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TUSCALOOSA, Al. – Last week, players from a small school in South Carolina marched through Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium, as if they had just experienced the biggest surprise in their history. It was like that. The scoreboard indicated Alabama 50, The Citadel 17, but the Crimson Tide FCS opponent, all teams combined, was suspended for two quarters with the reigning national champion, and the blonde devils were going to be happy, so they lingered on the pitch, sang their alma mater, and then ran into the tunnel of the visiting team under the sign of an ovation from their own fans and even those from Alabama .
A week later, on the same field, the losing team did nothing of the sort, but, in every detail, the feeling persisted: Is Alabama bearable? The scoreboard showed a similar result – Alabama 52, Auburn 21 – but the Tigers and Crimson Tide were in a three-point match at half-time, and Auburn got less than 10 points at the end of the third quarter. You're probably wondering why we dramatized a margin of victory by 31 points. That in itself should explain Alabama 2018's dominance: if a small crack of his crimson armor is exposed, we criticize, sometimes unfairly. We are biting here, understood? We are looking for a reason for this team not to fear its next three opponents to qualify at 15-0 and a national championship.
On Saturday, the Crimson Tide allowed 34 yards rushing and two assists for a goal scoring Auburn, fell for a double-pass touchdown and had a punt blocked. Suddenly, the tide seems likely to be the object of first signs, if not of late pressures. If Nick Saban's team is not able to defeat Citadelle and Auburn, who have seven wins in the first half, what could the elites of college football – Georgia first, then maybe Clemson, Our Lady or other? Alabama answered this question in the second half with the most dynamic airstrike that college football can offer on this side of Norman.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has thrown five touchdown passes to five different players in the last two quarterfinals, setting a school record in one game for a total of six touchdowns. He found Jerry Jeudy for 46 yards (all that guy did is open), Josh Jacobs for 33 (he opened the way in the end zone), DeVonta Smith for 40 (he's so fast), Henry Ruggs for 22 (on the best catches you'll see this season) and Jaylen Waddle for 53 (we thought Smith was fast, then this rookie ran Auburn high school).
Tagovailoa completed 11 of 12 pass attempts in the second half. It was so good that Saban mentioned the first individual prize of university football at the post-game press conference. "You can not win a Heisman trophy, you are not recognized to be the best artist, if you do not have the right equipment," said the coach. "Kobe Bryant's got asked when he [visited] this is what motivates him more: how much you like to win or how much you hate to lose. He said neither one nor the other. "I'm motivated because I want to be the best player I can be." [Tua] is motivated to be the best player possible. "
At this point, we'll remind you that Oklahoma and Alabama are simultaneously running Heisman campaigns for their respective starting quarters. A few days ago, the Sooners shot the USS Tua by sending a message. publishing a chart that compares the two-quarter statistics. But the Heisman whisper can wait. Let's go to next week's SEC championship game in Atlanta, where Alabama will have Georgia in the same building in which they beat the Bulldogs for the national championship less than 11 months ago. That's when wWe will see the extent of Crimson Tide's armor.
A team that has gone through the first nine weeks of the season, as proved 29-0 on LSU at Tiger Stadium, has never seemed so imperfect, even though it still wins the game with four touchdowns. The faults of this animatronic beast are beneficial, say those who use the commands. "We need things like that," said Ross Pierschbacher, Alabama center. "Not all games are going to be an eruption." Coaches will tell you that adversity is an important part of building a team, and the Crimson Tide has little experience in the first two months of the season. Now, they have gone through hardships, and not only have they survived unscathed, but they have reminded them that their quarterback is perhaps the best in the country, that their receivers are as competent as anything and that their defense can be strengthened. desperate offensive units.
Malzahn opened his bag bad Saturday, knowing full well that the Tigers needed something special to get angry. Auburn precipitated everyone on a deflated block (successful), let a receiver throw a pass (pass), gave up a goal-goal attempt at the fourth goal for a pass from the old-school swing gate ( unsuccessful) and tried a flea flicker (also not successful). What the Tigers did not do was try to advance the ball towards the end of the second quarter, seemingly comfortable with letting the clock lapse when it occupies a relatively good position on its own course. a line of 33 yards. When you have Alabama on your heel, you keep shaking your arms until you can not do it anymore. "Do not ask me why, but it does not seem like we had the right kind of energy in the first period," admitted Saban thereafter. "I do not know if it was worry or anything, but we seemed to settle in and play better in the second half."
Auburn missed his chance. Saban made it clear at halftime to tell her team, "We will have to change the thinking of these guys and take care of them because they think they can win now." The half-time locker room, last Saturday and Saturday, was different. the previous nine. "Come earlier in the season, we were doing what we needed to do," Smith said, "but by the end of the season, we stopped doing what we needed to do, did not use the right techniques and that kind things. It shows us what we really are, when you have to take it up. "
Take it they have done it. Although this match ended more triumphantly than the one against the Citadel, it provided another data point, as the CFP committee might say, in a case to be demonstrated: this Alabama team can not -be not quite unbeatable.
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