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Saban & Nessler On College GameDay
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Reece Davis and the folks on ESPN College GameDay had a little fun talking about the "meltdown" earlier this week of Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Of course they had to air the part of Saban's press conference where he "jumped" the media over their reporting of the untimely death of Alabama football, 2015 edition.
They, then, went to the interview Brad Nessler had with the smiling Nick Saban. Nessler told him everyone watching had seen the earlier video now, and said, "Nick...pretty emphatic message you were sending out."
Saban said, "Well, you know, sometimes I think it's important to try to defend your team. And, you know, you can do an assessment of how we've done this season. We've played a couple of good games and a couple of pretty average games, so consistency in performance is what we're looking for."
He smiled and added, "And I'm sure since I did that everybody's still got that story laying out some place to write it if we ever do fail."
The talk then turned to Arkansas, with Nessler mentioning that Bama had a really impressive performance defensively last week and was playing another team this week that liked to run the football. Saban commented, "Well, Arkansas is a very good team and they can run the football. They've got a very good offensive line, but I think their quarterback has played extremely well for 'em. They've made a lot of big plays in the passing game, and actually are one of the leading teams in the country when it comes to making explosive plays. And I think that's because they have great balance."
Alabama and Arkansas meet tonight at 6 p.m. CT in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
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Hogs Looking To Spoil Bama Homecoming
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Alabama (4-1, 1-1 SEC) put together it's best effort this season to at Athens, Georgia to humble the Bulldogs in their own house 38-10 in a rain-soaked contest. The Arkansas Razorbacks (2-3, 1-1 SEC) were able to snap a three-game losing streak last Saturday at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee to give third-year head coach Bret Bielema his first conference road win. Both big, emotional wins.
This evening those Razorbacks are hoping to snap another losing streak, this one against the Crimson Tide. Arkansas has lost to Alabama eight seasons in a row, including the last five consecutive games at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The streak almost came to an end last year, as Bama eked by in Fayetteville, Arkansas on a 14-13 win on a blocked extra point. That narrow escape will be on the mind of the men of both teams, and should spur the Crimson Tide from allowing complacency to set in.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban knows how tough last year's game was, and what this year's Arkansas team is capable of. Saban said, "Everybody knows what a physical game it was last year and they have 16 starters back. Four offensive linemen, a really good running back in Alex Collins, quarterback Brandon Allen has been starting for three years."
Turning to defense Saban commented, "Their defense is one of the tops against the run in the SEC. Bret has done a really, really good job there of creating a lot of toughness, a physical team that you really have to have your jaws set to play well against the type things they do."
Arkansas' quarterback will be key in this evening's contest. "I think each year he's gotten better and better," Saban said. "I think he's playing very well for them this year. He's a good passer, he's accurate, he makes good decisions. He makes plays with his feet."
One of the better receivers for the Hogs, Drew Morgan, is coming off back-to-back 100-yard receiving games. Saban was highly complimentary, calling him "maybe the best tight end in the country."
The Razorbacks are currently third in the SEC in rushing defense (101.6 yards per game), which could hinder the running game of the Bama backs. Alabama leads the league in the same category at 84.0 yards per game. Saban said, "They're physical up front. They do a great job with their scheme. They play blockers well, they're physical, their linebackers are instinctive. We had a tough time running the ball against them last year and so the expectation for us is we're going to have to do a lot better job."
One of the bright spots for Bama concerning the Arky defense is that the Hogs rank dead last in the Southeastern Conference in pass defense. Hitting some down and outs, crossing patterns and some screens should help open up the running game for Bama's backs. It could also make Arkansas susceptible to a long-ball or two.
Keeping their heads in the game, watching turnovers, keeping penalties to a minimum will be key in giving the Crimson Tide a big homecoming victory today.
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Crimson Tide Soccer Falls To Aggies 4-0
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The Alabama Crimson Tide suffered a 4-0 soccer loss to No. 17 Texas A&M last night at Ellis Field in College Station, Texas. Bama falls to 4-8-2, 1-5 SEC.
Bama head soccer coach Wes Hart said, "We got beat by a better team tonight. I think we got off to a really nice start and we looked good up until they scored their first goal."
That first goal for the Aggies came at just under 24 minutes into the match and was the first of two in the first half. Two more were added in the second half to end things.
The Tide returns to Tuscaloosa to host the Tennessee Volunteers tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast live on SECN+.
