Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Alabama coach Nick Saban and his third-ranked Crimson Tide look to take their first step toward winning their second straight SEC West title Saturday when they host the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Alabama went 8-0 in conference play last season to win the West before losing to eventual national champion the Florida Gators in the league title game. They will likely need a strong offensive performance to keep pace with the Razorbacks on Saturday.
NCAA odds makers like their chances as Vegas lines have the Tide at about an 18 point favorite with the total in the contest sitting at about 58 points.
Last week in a non-conference game against North Texas, the Crimson Tide rolled out to a 30-0 halftime lead and ended up winning 53-7 in the program's highest-scoring game since 2001. Saban must have been pleased with the North Texas game, though he would never say so, as his team started a little slow the prior week against Florida International.
"Until today, I wondered, 'Was this team really going to fulfill its full potential?'" Saban said. "I just wasn't pleased with the lack of consistency we played with in the first two games. We played really well at times and at other times we didn't, but I feel like we were much more solid and we made some improvement."
The Arkansas Razorbacks boast the second-best offense in the Football Bowl Subdivision, averaging 538.0 yards, and though they came up on the short end of a 52-41 loss to then-No. 23 Georgia last Saturday night, their offense has looked outstanding.
After two games, Hogs quarterback Ryan Mallett is the nation's top-rated passer. Mallett is the key to the offense, throwing for 717 yards in their two games. The transfer from Michigan set two school records last Saturday with 408 passing yards and five touchdowns.
Although I don't think Arkansas is going to win this one out-right, I do think they have enough offensive fire power to hang with Alabama and 18 points is a lot to give to an SEC opponent.
Take the Razorbacks getting the 18 points.