Alabama Falls Short In Another Big Moment

That’s three now. Three straight losses to ranked opponents, dating back to the 2013 Iron Bowl for Alabama.

Before that, the Crimson Tide were 28-10 against ranked opponents since Nick Saban’s arrival in Tuscaloosa in 2007. And if you take away 2-3 mark from Saban’s first season, Alabama has been steady against ranked competition the past six seasons.

Until last November, at least.

Alabama’s loss to Ole Miss on Saturday was shocking, if for no other reason than Ole Miss’s inability to beat the Crimson Tide since the early 2000s.

It was also shocking because of what Mississippi State had done to Texas A&M earlier that afternoon, putting both the Bulldogs and the Rebels at the top of the SEC West.

But the biggest shock was for third straight time, Alabama has shown a disturbing inability to finish close games against quality opponents.

Ever since a once-in-a-lifetime play ripped a victory out of the hands of the Crimson Tide, they seem to have lost their edge.

After the loss to Auburn, it was a convincing loss to Oklahoma, and now an early defeat at the hands of Ole Miss.

I’m about to take credit for something that I said after Alabama’s surprisingly close victory over West Virginia: this is the weakest Alabama team we’ve seen since Saban’s first season.

Now before you jump down my throat about how dominant and amazing Alabama is, I’m not saying that they aren’t a talented team, I’m just saying that they don’t appear as dominant as they did back in the 2009 through 2012 seasons.

I’ll use the West Virginia game as an example. The Mountaineers were 25-point underdogs. They lost by ten, and they made Alabama nervous in the process.

Against a defense that had been an unholy terror in the SEC for six years, Clint Trickett threw for 365 yards, and the Crimson Tide never forced a turnover out of him. He threw multiple passes of ten yards or more, helping the Mountaineers pick up 22 first downs along the way.

Midway through the fourth quarter, West Virginia was only down 30-23 before a final field goal put the game out of reach.

Alabama overpowered West Virginia in the end, but should it have been that close in the first place? That’s when I realized that maybe this Alabama team wasn’t the same one we were all used to seeing.

Last season, Auburn gashed Alabama for almost 300 rushing yards, only putting the ball in the air when they needed to. A few weeks later, Oklahoma rolled up 429 yards (348 through the air) on them.

And then last Saturday, Dr. Bo showed up for Ole Miss, leading the way with three touchdowns in the second half, including 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

The last time Alabama lost this early in the season was back in that 7-6 season in 2007. Since then, the Crimson Tide have put up at least ten wins each of the past six seasons, and have not lost as early as October since losing on the road at South Carolina in 2010.

That season, Alabama finished the season with three losses, its second-highest total under Saban.

They also finished fourth in the SEC West, behind undefeated Auburn, and Arkansas and LSU, who each finished the regular season with ten wins.

So now the Crimson Tide find themselves in a similar situation, but with a dimmer light at the end of the tunnel.

Whether they actually are the most talented teams in the conference, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss separated themselves from the pack. Much like the 2010 season, Alabama could find itself in fourth place in the SEC West with ten wins at season’s end.

But 4-1 approaching the middle of October isn’t a bad place to be. In this year’s SEC West, anyone really can beat anyone, and if Alabama wins out, there’s no reason a couple of losses from other teams can’t help them out.

The question is whether or not they can win what are now becoming bigger matchups.

It certainly helps that they get Auburn, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M all at home, but what about a trip to Fayetteville to square off against a resurgent Arkansas team?

The bottom line is that Alabama is facing tough schedule the rest of the way, as is everyone in the SEC West this year. And so far, they have not proven that they can put the game away against quality opponents.

Alabama is still tremendously talented. They have a Heisman candidate in receiver Amari Cooper, two dynamic running backs, and a formidable front seven on defense.

They have the talent and coaching to compete with anyone, if they get out of their own way.

Eventually, they’re going to have to let Blake Sims win a game for them. He’s a good quarterback, but he hasn’t completed a difficult throw in a real critical situation yet. In fact, the one that he did try ended the game.

They’re also going to have to fix the holes in their secondary. Against their two quality opponents this season, Alabama has given up a total of 593 yards, almost 300 per contest.

Alabama’s usual strategy is to simply put the game out of reach in the first half. That way, they don’t have to worry about making big plays in high-stress situations.

But against teams like Auburn and Mississippi State, that won’t always be an option.

Turns out it wasn’t an option against Ole Miss, either.

In its three biggest games of late, Alabama has not been able to make the plays it needed to in the fourth quarter. They haven’t been able to come up with a stop or complete the pass that will win them the game.

In this year’s SEC West, that could put a season in serious jeopardy, no matter what kind of talent you have.

And that should worry the University of Alabama.