Dominant No. 1 Alabama fears a trap
Alabama sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is the Heisman frontrunner going into October, and he hasn’t even attempted a pass in the fourth quarter yet.
No. 1 Alabama’s domination has been so complete that Tagovailoa has been able to sit back and enjoy the view late in the games. The Crimson Tide’s latest demolition came against Louisiana on Saturday, as Alabama took a 49-0 halftime lead and coasted to a 56-14 win.
October might bring more of the same.
Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC) plays at struggling Arkansas (1-4, 0-2) this Saturday, followed by a home game against Missouri and a road game at Tennessee.
Alabama is off the following week before November gets interesting, including a game at LSU, vs. Mississippi State and vs. Auburn.
Coach Nick Saban, of course, isn’t looking past Saturday.
“This is what I call a little bit of a trap game for us,” he said.
Saban expounded on the Razorbacks, who lost 24-17 to Texas A&M last week.
“Fayetteville has always been a difficult place to play,” Saban said.
“We have a lot of respect for Arkansas. Chad Morris being the new coach there, you can see every week, they’re getting better and better. Certainly played their best game of the year last week against Texas A&M and had opportunities to come back and at least tie the game if they could have finished with another score.
“They have a lot of experience. They have a lot of returning starters. I think they’ve switched around quarterback personnel. Maybe that’s sort of impeded some of their progress at times. I think they’ve now settled on Ty Storey being the starting quarterback. I think he’s been productive. This is a very capable team.”
The stats tell a different story. Arkansas is last in the SEC in rushing, total offense and scoring. The Razorbacks are 13th in scoring defense.
This could very well be another day in which Tagovailoa isn’t needed in the fourth quarter.
