The Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0) face a much improved – but still 3-6 – Arkansas Razorbacks side in their last regular-season game of the season. Here are the three keys to an Alabama win.
By Steve Wright
Just keep on rolling
It is hard to see how anyone beats Alabama this season – including in the SEC Championship Game and the CFP. The Crimson Tide have been perhaps more dominant than ever under Nick Saban in 2020, a remarkable feat given both the long-term dominance of the program and the pandemic making everything more difficult. ‘Bama put 55 points on the defending national champions last week and they rolled up 650 yards of offense in the process. Arkansas – while improved overall – has regressed recently and has lost three in a row while giving up over 1,500 of offense in the process. That is not math that works out well for the Hogs.
Beware the deep ball
While Arkansas has no chance of stopping Alabama, their offense could put up some points here. The Hogs are last in the SEC in terms of time of possession, but some of that is by design as they have forgone the running game in order to put the ball in the hands of their quarterbacks. Feleipe Franks was good all year, while KJ Jefferson started against Mizzou last week and accounted for four touchdowns. Arkansas knows it can’t keep Alabama off of the scoreboard, so don’t be shocked to see plenty of attempted fourth down conversions and the ball being winged around the field to try to make this a shootout.
Stay focused
The only way this one gets interesting is if Alabama is looking ahead to its date with Florida next week and completely falls into the trappiest of trap games. Saban is about the best in the land when it comes to keeping his players focus and on task, something he will need to make sure is the case here. Ideally, ‘Bama will be up 28 at the half and cruise home, but if there is any lack of focus then Arkansas has enough to keep this one more interesting than it should be.
Saturday‘s game kicks off at 11:00 AM CT (12:00 PM ET). You can watch this Alabama football game on the ESPN Network.
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