Anyone who wondered if Alabama would succumb to the chaos that claimed four other top-10 teams this weekend didn’t have to wait long to find out in the Tide’s game against Arkansas.
On the first play of the game, running back Damien Harris outraced Arkansas defenders 75 yards for a score, his second 75-yard touchdown run in as many weeks.
Suddenly, no one questioned what kind of game this was going to be.
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It was fun to wonder for a while, though, after we saw what happened to the likes of Clemson, Washington State and Auburn.
First, Syracuse upended the No. 2 Tigers 27-24 on Friday. Not a few hours later, Cal shocked No. 8 Washington State and its high-flying offense, 37-3. And on Saturday, we watched Alabama’s rival, No. 10 Auburn, lose its ninth straight road game at LSU, 27-23, before No. 5 Washington was shocked 13-7 by Arizona State.
Elsewhere, we saw No. 11 Miami struggle in a win against Georgia Tech, No. 12 Oklahoma nearly fall to Texas in the Red River Rivalry and No. 13 USC escape disaster against Utah.
Yes, it was a bad weekend to be a top-25 team. That is, of course, unless you were Alabama, which extended its win streak over unranked opponents to 71 after beating Arkansas 41-9.
While chaos reigned supreme elsewhere in the college football world, Nick Saban and the Tide proved once again why the Tide are still the unquestioned No. 1 team in the country. Alabama doesn’t even humor the notion of an upset: It jumps out to a big lead, then gradually squeezes the life out of opponents with a powerful rush attack and a defense comprised of players who fly to the ball like they were shot out of cannons.
That philosophy was on full display against a mismatched Arkansas on Saturday, which had the unenviable distinction of being the Tide’s homecoming opponent. By the time Alabama took a 24-0 lead into halftime, the outcome of the game was already certain.
Against the Razorbacks, Alabama racked up 496 yards, including 308 on the ground. The defense limited Arkansas to 227 yards, including only 38 rushing. Backup quarterback Cole Kelly threw for 200 yards, but was harried and harassed all night. He was sacked five times, but faced a lot more hits.
Yes, the Tide were stymied offensively — for a time — after scoring 17 points on their first three drives. Yes, Henry Ruggs and Trevon Diggs muffed three punts, one of which was recovered by Arkansas. Yes, the defense gave up the lone score of the game because of three bad penalties.
But mistakes that cost other top teams this weekend were hardly a blip on the Tide’s radar.
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Is it any wonder, then, that Alabama remains the No. 1 team in the country? Is it any wonder they've outscored four SEC opponents by a combined score of 193-31? This isn't new to anyone. It's par for the course these days.
Still, you can bet Saban will use all the Tide's mistakes — there were plenty — as talking points as the team head into the remainder of the season. Speaking of which, remember last week when he made those “rat poison” comments? They were directed at media, but the message wasn’t intended for them. He just used them as a mouthpiece to speak to players:
Never let up. Keep squeezing. Keep crushing.
As long as Alabama keeps listening to that message, it’ll be some time before chaos finally gets the better of the Tide.
