SABAN HAS A REMARKABLE OPPORTUNITY NOW...

       Alabama has some problems. They have had them since before game one this season. I suspect they had them before Dylan Moses went down with an injury. The defense has been fair to middling as we like to say in this state. Flame me if you like, but it’s true. Now, our defense has a job to do. The newly baptized have had to improve. The experienced could lead the way, and the coaches can find ways to manipulate the x’s and o’s to win each game.

     The offense, was as one-legged, as is Tua is now, from the start of the season. The running game wasn’t up to Alabama standards. Average opposing defenses far too often knocked Tide backs down for losses behind the line of scrimmages. Penalties rained down on the Alabama team like summer rain. And still, the Alabama Crimson Tide was undefeated and ranked # 1 in the nation. I never thought we were that good, it was a kind of lifetime achievement award for Nick Saban, and perhaps the belief he would cure all the faults that glared like headlights on a dark night.

    The competition has been poor. It will be poor again this weekend. After this game, the competition will be tough. It will tough enough to make each and every weakness this team has. Some of those weaknesses are too apparent to hide or cover even with a stunning quarterback who will not be a 100%. But Nick Saban has an opportunity here. He can continue to prove that he is the greatest coach in the history of American football. Saban can prove all the nay-sayers and talking heads wrong. If Saban wins a 7^th national championship he will have done his greatest coaching job. Even without the injury to Tua winning the national championship would have been his greatest job in my opinion.

   This team is far from perfect. They are getting better. The defense seems more like an Alabama defense of older days.  The running game is starting to come around. Can Mack be Tua? Of course not. But he can be good enough if every other player plays his best. Make no doubt that after today the Tide will be the underdog to beat LSU and Auburn. The Bama haters will celebrate, and other coaches will say Saban is through. Bama or Saban isn’t through. I believe this team of young men, who at times seems confused, can become better than perhaps they have believed themselves. Get ready, the ride is going to bumpy, but the championship at the end will be even sweeter.