SEC teams battle to tighten widening gap with No. 1 Alabama

Sep 17, 2016, 00:38
SEC teams battle to tighten widening gap with No. 1 Alabama

Intimidation shouldn't be one of the emotions the No. 19 Ole Miss football team experiences this week while preparing for No. 1 Alabama.

That's three impact players after two games. Forget those 700 yards they had against outmanned Arkansas State, or Kerryon Johnson and Kamryn Pettway each going over 100 yards in that game. Any first-year coach in a collegiate sport faces the challenge of playing with a team that he or she did not construct, and Johnson excelled last year at winning with such a team.

Clemson, Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, Houston, Louisville and Stanford could go undefeated.

The run-up to this game exhibits telltale portents of an imminent Alabama massacre. "Sometimes it might not go the way you like, but sometimes it does, and God is on my side".

On the offense, Alabama averages 287.0 yards in passing and 183.0 yards in rushing.

He did everything but wring his hands and ask for advice on what to do about Ole Miss' hurry-hurry offense and quarterback Chad Kelly. He added that he never used revenge as a motivational tool, but it's the sort of thing that could happen on its own. That one was in Alabama but actually Ole Miss beat the Tide the previous year as well. Of course, they were better the past two years, when they lost. He was already in the next game, and his offensive line - which lost two starters - has been suspect. The players avoided seeing a dozen young fans parade a piece of the post through traffic hours later either, but what they did see stuck with them.

The Florida State game got away from Ole Miss in the second half when it was unable to create some offensive balance.

Valdosta at North Alabama: The Lions have been idle since falling 31-12 to Jacksonville State in their opener.

The bottom line is Alabama has been leaps and bounds better than Ole Miss. Now, Alabama is trying to change its approach going into Saturday's visit to the 19th-ranked Rebels. This is no ordinary day. Another six coaches have beaten him in two straight seasons: Nebraska's Tom Osborne, Iowa's Hayden Fry, Penn State's Joe Paterno, Florida's Steve Spurrier, Louisiana State's Les Miles and ... It will be interesting to see if Fournette can carry the offense on his back.

LSU filled the void with a victory in 2011's 9-6 Game of The Century.

UM still would have a chance to win the SEC West with a loss against the Tide.

Auburn is tough at home. Defensive end Marquis Haynes is one of the best in the SEC, and Ole Miss has plenty of depth at tackle with Breeland Speaks, Benito Jones, D.J. Jones and Isaac Gross. In Nick Saban's final season of 2004, his defending national champion LSU team waltzed onto the Plains and left empty-handed.

It's just the fact it's SEC Football.

Vanderbilt at Georgia Tech: The Smart Boy Bowl.

If the Rebels are relying on Kelly to move the ball on the ground, even against a team like Alabama that has a tendency to struggle with mobile quarterbacks, they are in major trouble.

The Rebs and Tide set for a 2:30 p.m. kick Saturday in Oxford. Mizzou looked bad against West Virginia, then scored 61 against Eastern Michigan, which was good to see because the offense was horrific a year ago. "Sometimes it might not go the way you like, but sometimes it does".

It will be the Rebels' first morning game of the season, and the second contest captured by the worldwide leader in sports' flagship channel. Our coaches, our players understand that.

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