Another week is half way over, and another opponent is getting increasingly nervous to play the Tide. It appears to me that we are a few mistakes away from having a championship team. North Texas is a perfect opportunity before we begin SEC play. Here is my list of items that we need to improve in order to win a National Championship:
1) Kickoff Team. I read a statistic that Bama had something like a 10yr span with only 3 kickoffs returned (against Bama) for a touchdown. We have already had 2 this year. Our special teams is a priority to Nick Saban. Check out this article. By the way, I thought we would be the team returning kickoffs and punts.
2) Too many penalties. Check out this breakdown of penalties versus FIU. I recently caught the replay of the 2006 Arkansas game. I've noticed that our Offensive penalties this year are similar to the Mike Shula era. During the 2006 Arkansas game, we had to many big plays called back because of bone-headed penalties. We are seeing those mistakes this year (And that is the only correlation to the Mike Shula era).
3) Need to be more consistent during the 1st half. Last year we knocked most teams out of the game during the first half. If we can't do it this year, I am for sure that most SEC teams are going to hang in the game through the 4th quarter. Luckily, we are finishing games a lot stronger, but we have yet to see Bama beat an opponent for 4 straight quarters.
4) Need to continue to see more development in other Wide Receivers. I was glad to see Mike McCoy step up during the FIU game. Check out this article here. I would like to see more throughout the season. Julio Jones is being double teamed, and we need to have more threats in the passing game. So far we have been OK, but we need to dominate.
Other links....
Julio Jones and Roy Upchurch are still questionable for this week. Read here.
Greg McElroy receives some love from ESPN's Chris Low. Read here.
Alabama is still receiving votes for #1. Read here.
Wanna read about Andre Smith? Click here.
And the video of the day.... A Glen Coffee Interview from this morning. Enjoy.
