Tide Tidbits – September 22, 2009

Arkansas’ high-powered offense set to test Tide’s dominating defense
All Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain saw of Georgia’s 52-41 shootout victory over Arkansas was a few Saturday night highlights. But it doesn’t mean he can’t read a scoreboard. “They’re a good offense, and they score a lot of points,” McClain said of Arkansas. “But they haven’t played us.” One of the nation’s best offenses takes aim at one of the nation’s best defenses when Arkansas (1-1, 0-1 SEC) visits third-ranked Alabama (3-0, 0-0) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on CBS. The Razorbacks are averaging 538 total yards and 427.5 passing yards a game, numbers that rank second nationally and first in the conference.

Third is not the safest of places in national poll
Right about now in some corners, Nick Saban’s oft-repeated philosophy of focus and process is being as ignored like a flight attendant’s safety briefing. It’s just words you’ve heard dozens of times before, so why bother. Life is, and should be, giddy as champagne bubbles for Tide Nation. Alabama is 3-0. Its biggest question mark – the rookie quarterback, Greg McElroy – has straightened its shoulders up into an exclamation point. Alabama beat nationally ranked Virginia Tech then defiantly kicked sand in the faces of two weaklings. Alabama moved up one notch in both polls this week. With Florida No. 1, Texas No. 2, Alabama No. 3, Ole Miss No. 4 and LSU No. 7, the rankings have more Southern flavor than a Cracker Barrel menu. It’s worth noting, though, that No. 3 is one of those rungs on the ratings ladder that needs to come with a warning label. The last two No. 3s this year have been toppled over.

Tide’s real offense finally showed up
Alabama’s real offense showed up. Greg McElroy showed his old high school coach just how much he has improved since coming to Alabama.
Each week the offense is improving, especially with the plays being called by the coach. The coaches showed Alabama has depth in the backfield when we saw numbers on the field that usually sit on the sideline. Now that the preseason is over, Alabama is ready to begin the real season playing the SEC with a strong offense leading the way. I just wonder when the big guy (No. 62) will get to carry the ball, instead of blocking in the jumbo package at the goal line.

New faces, same results
The University of Alabama’s view from several of the Southeastern Conference’s defensive statistical categories is from the top. Total defense, first. Rushing defense, first. Sacks, you guessed it. But with the Crimson Tide near the bottom of the league in takeaways, an area that coach Nick Saban considers crucial is lacking as UA enters Southeastern Conference play against Arkansas on Saturday. ‘That’s something we need to improve on. I think turnover ratio is very, very important. I think it’s something we need to continue to emphasize with our players,’ Saban said. ‘We’ve got a lot of the same players that we had last year when we had a significant amount of takeaways, so I think we’ve got to keep working at it, keep emphasizing it, and I think the day will come when we will get some of those.’

Franklin, Smith and Miller Available For Alabama
Arkansas head football coach Bobby Petrino says linebacker Jerry Franklin will likely start against Alabama Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa. Frankin was ejected in the second quarter of Arkansas game with Georgia on a penalty that appeared to cause a huge momentum shift to the Bulldogs. “He’s hurting,” Petrino said of Franklin at the team’s Monday afternoon press conference. “It’s hard on him. He feels like he let his teammates down. He and everyone else will learn from it. As of right now, he will start against Alabama.” Starting running back Michael Smith, who missed much of the first half of the Georgia game with a shoulder injury, will start the game against Alabama as well.

A turning point for Meyer, UF?
We got it all wrong. We all thought Nick Saban would be the man who would slay the great Urban Meyer. We figured it would probably happen next year in the SEC championship game. We figured after a beating by Alabama (sans Tim Tebow), perhaps Meyer would begin to doubt his decision to hang around in Gainesville and start looking for greener pastures. But whoever believed the Urban-killer would be Lane Kiffin? Florida may not even be the best team in the SEC (more on that in a moment). I was talking to Tom Luginbill of ESPN Friday about the state of college football and he sent out a warning about USC and several other schools. “I’ve been studying the actual coaches’ film of the top 10 teams and Alabama is the second best team in the country behind Florida,” said Luginbill, who is recruiting director of ESPN. This week, he is sticking with the Tide at No.2. However, after seeing Florida struggle against Tennessee and Texas edge Texas Tech, could Alabama make a claim as the best team in the nation?

Roll Tide!

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