2nd ranked Alabama has had two weeks to prepare for this Saturday's game against the University of Mississippi Rebels. The only problem is you are never sure what Ole Miss team you are going to get any given week.
In his first year, Head Coach Houston Nutt has brought some new wrinkles to Oxford and there is no doubt Ole Miss is better this year than they have been in the past, largely due to their new QB Jevan Sneed. The Achilles heel of this team, however, has been its inconsistency.
Let's review the Rebels season so far. At 3-3 this is how Ole Miss has gotten there: Memphis-Win, Wake Forrest-Loss, Samford-Win, Vandy-Loss, Florida-Win, South Carolina-Loss. Do you notice the trend here? They win one, lose one. Unfortunately for us, they are due for a win using this formula. Some will say that two of their three wins are against inferior competition in Memphis and Samford. The bad or good news for Alabama, depending on how you look at it, is their shocking win over then # 4 Florida at The Swamp.
On one hand, it should scare Tide fans in the fact that if Ole Miss is good enough to go to Gainesville and beat the Gators, they can come to Tuscaloosa and beat us. On the other hand, it might help Alabama keep a focus on Ole Miss and not look ahead. Watching every minute of Alabama football this season and in the years past, you can also see a trend that has developed. We play our best when we are truly challenged. Our two best performances this year have been when we enter the game as an underdog, Clemson and Georgia. We had far more talent and blew out Western Kentucky and played great at rebuilding Arkansas but went through the motions and did not look good against Tulane and Kentucky. I wrote off the Kentucky performance to the Cats being better than we originally thought, but then a very average South Carolina team goes to Lexington last week and takes it to 'em.
Even looking back at last season the same Alabama team blows out eventual SEC East champ Tennessee then has one of the worst losses in school history to LA-Monroe at home a few weeks later. The reality is this has been Alabama football in recent history....playing to competition.
I give you that rant to prove why I think Ole Miss winning at Florida will help Alabama. We need to be ready to go or this team will beat us. If the Kentucky and Tulane games proved anything it proved Alabama is not good enough to just show up and win, we have to give everything we have every week if we want this dream year to continue. While Alabama has looked like the better team thus far and has far more to play for, this is a game to be nervous about given Ole Miss' recent trend....just ask the Urban Meyer.
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