While things should be easy between now and LSU, Florida found out this weekend that nothing can be taken for granted. And while Kentucky hasn’t exactly impressed so far, they have yet to lose. And this Alabama team has yet to face any adversity by trailing in a game, and you know it has to happen sometime. Also, this team has been very fortunate in terms of injuries at this point in the season?

And to toot my own horn, I’ve always been a JPW apologist. Shows what good blocking and good playcalling can do for a quarterback.

Also, where’s OTS? I missed his preview this week and am looking forward to his recap…..

i thought the same when they started to make a come-back. It would have been nice to see a total domination for all 4 quarters, but then Saban wouldn’t have anything to be angry about.

All I know, is that this is all a nice surprise from what I was expecting this year. Even if we don’t make it to the SEC I can’t be upset when I thought we would only have 8 wins this year at the first of the season.

Roll Tide! Can’t wait until after we slaughter Kentucky and we’re still asking ourselves if we are ‘for real’!!

and they shouldn’t be. This is the SEC. Bama has a reputation of playing to the competition. Oh, how many games v. Vandy, MSU, Ole Miss, etc. have I been worried until the game went final. BUT, the times have changed. The UGA comeback in the second half was driven by several factors and sure one was our loss of focus and sure I got a bit scared late in the game and sure we need to work on special teams (big time). But I am not afraid of a meltdown. Saban preaches not a game by game basis, but a play by play basis. Beat your man on every play. How many times has he said that? The road btwn now and LSU will not be easy no should it be, but I am not afraid of a meltdown on the part of our players. I am very afraid of the injury bug however.

I was so elated after the first half. Like Saban said, that was seriously the best half of Crimson Tide football since I became a UA student-fan. Then we go 3-out three straight times, and our defense seemed to be reacting slower than being ready. As for the special teams miscues, that punt return should’ve had 2 flags thrown on UGA. I was as pissed as I could be during the second half. I fully recognize that UGA is a good team with awesome talent. However, I would’ve been happy with long drives and FGs for the entire second half, so maybe our defensive miscues was partially due to being on the field longer. It also seemed like that no matter who we sent in to blitz Stafford, UGA would completely pick everyone up. Was there any obvious holding penalties that were never called?

I hope the team will follow the coaches leads and focus on Kentucky and not have a let down. That’ll make me feel better about the rest of the season.

CNS knows that anything can happen on any week…so be patient and trust that he will have the team prepared…like I said “here”.http://www.rollbamaroll.com/2008/9/28/623514/i-know-i-don-t-look-happy we will already had our let-down in the 2nd half, so it won’t happen against UK…
trust…

…do the official homework on this one, but I know Mark Barron, Courtney Upshaw, and Jerrell Harris have been out there in coverage, plus some other young dudes. Of course, we only have nine seniors on the whole roster, so whatcha gonna do. Barron and Upshaw, by the way, have made some big plays for us already, so I feel it’s worth the inherent risks that come with playing youngbloods. I also liked that our first three completions went to freshmen (BJ Scott and Julio), Mark Ingram scored the first TD, Julio had 95 yards and a TD, Donta Hightower had a pick…and former JC Terrence Cody ate five Bulldogs.

Very good post. I fear that the loss of consistency may come not from anything the players do wrong but from a key injury or two. It has been noted many times that Alabama is thin at key positions, and its really amazing how Saban has gotten the maximum from this teams talent so far.

FYI: Alabama stands a good chance of sitting at #1 in the AP in two weeks time. The scenario is Alabama takes care of Kentucky and then gets an off week. Two weeks from now Texas pulls a minor upset and beats Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout, and Alabama moves to #1 with Texas jumping to #2 or #3 like we did this week. Of course it doesn’t mean anything until the end of the season, but just food for thought.

as happy as i am with this team’s production this season i still harbor the concerns that i had in the preseason – consistency and depth. the ability here is apparent to everyone and the team’s chemistry is leaps and bounds beyond the nebulous group of last year. there is confidence, cooperation and intensity and these are the things that will pay off for us in the long run.

nowhere is our progress more evident than in the line play. the quality of both units is breathtaking and the speed in which they have come together is simply amazing. just about every other improvement in this team follows this aspect of our progress.

i don’t really think JPW made as dramatic a step forward as a player most pundits suppose. i think he’s always been an above-average qb but until now he’s only been given the chance to fail. with the protection he’s got with this line he walks onto the field now with a chance to succeed and that’s a vast difference. he’s matured as a player as a result and that’s simply fantastic.

and while i agree with todd on most of the points here, i have to add a slight addendum. if it is true that we are the main obstacle is ourselves it must also be noted the danger of that grew exponentially this weekend. we are no longer underdogs, people will be gunning for us. and the margin of error just evaporated.

as i put it in the comments of another fanpost:

we came in underdogs last night and while the blackout was an effort on the part of the dawgs to keep up the intensity, they clearly weren’t prepared for what we gave them on the field from that first kick return. this situation isn’t likely to happen again, people will be PUMPED to play us and the ability to catch folks by surprise from the get-go just went out the window.

losing concentration and the rigours of the second half of the season are HUGE obstacles for us from here on out. we need to get better on special teams and on the deep ball (although JPW looked exponentially better in that respect last night). i’m still sticking to my pre-season take on this team, we are going to have a strong season but NEXT season we are going to be the stuff of nightmares for our foes.

i’m a marathon runner and when someone decides to run their first marathon they train for endurance. to build the strength to survive the distance. but, once you have that, it’s yours. maintaining it is a lot easier than obtaining it. from there on out you work on stamina – the ability to keep a proscribed pace for the entirety of the distance. and that’s the real work of the thing.

last year we learned this team can survive the distance, this year we are gaining stamina. the half of that we can control is the consistency, the half we can’t is depth. but saban is handling the latter and i’ll have another bottle of snake oil over here, if you please.

Depth still has to be a concern, as we are so young in the backups. I will say that this season reminds me of 1992 season, in that we have stayed remarkably healthy. We started almost the same 22 from the first game to the last in that 1992 season.

The schedule gets more difficult from here on out. Kentucky has been a fairly good team so far, and looks to have a fairly good defense. They will probably be the best defenese we have played all year……maybe!

Anyways, I hope people can enjoy this season, and not get to carried away with predictions. It definitely has the feel of something special!

I have to agree that when this team is on, I don’t think there’s another team in this country that can play with them. I was at the game sitting on the bad end of a 1st half beatdown and all I could think about was the 2007 national title game when Florida didn’t make a single mistake that first half against OSU. I’ve never seen a half as flawlessly played as ‘Bama played on Saturday. It’s not like the Dawgs just came out there with no intensity or motivation, they just flat got beat on everything. I tip my hat to the ‘Bama nation. You’ve got a pretty damn good football team. Hopefully we’ll see you again in Atlanta.