By the fourth quarter, it's just clear that other teams just can't hang with the Tide. (Photo - TDA Magazine)

Saban Will Hate This, But Alabama Just Vastly Superior to Competition

By: Larry Burton

This is the time of year when Alabama is said to enter the “grueling stretch run” that includes Mississippi State, LSU and Auburn. But as you look at the remaining teams on Alabama’s schedule, the simple fact is, Alabama is just vastly superior to the competition left on the regular season schedule.

LSU, next on the schedule is both the same team that lost to Troy and the team that beat Auburn and destroyed Ole Miss. But even on their best day, LSU just doesn’t match up player to Alabama at just about any position. If there’s anyone on the LSU offense that would start on Alabama’s team, I just haven’t seen them.

That’s why Alabama opened up as a 21.5 point favorite. That’s hardly a grueling game is it? It doesn’t sound like a team likely for an upset win does it? And to top it off, they’re playing in Tuscaloosa.

Then there’s Mississippi State, who actually will be a bit less underdog, but clearly this Bulldog team who was mauled by Auburn, a team that lost to LSU. So to me, it’s unclear why LSU could be less of an underdog that LSU, but they will be.

But no one will really see this game as a real test to Alabama during or after this game has concluded. They are a good team, but will look very average to poor when playing against the Crimson Tide.

Forget the cupcake game with Mercer and move on to Auburn. Earlier in the year, many folks thought this would be the game to determine the SEC Championship. Many people were wrong.

Once Auburn lost to a very pedestrian LSU, once a mediocre LSU defense held Auburn to just 23 points, folks quit believing that Jarett Stidham was improving to the point of being the all important cog that would bring Auburn’s offense to greatness.

How many times does Alabama have to prove that they will, can and does shut down any running attack from any team? After seeing almost three quarters of a season of play, no one in their right mind thinks Stidham can beat Alabama with his arm if the Tide shuts down the running game.

Once the Tide defeats LSU by a large margin and let me remind you again that this is the same LSU team that defeated Auburn, who will really believe that Auburn will somehow miraculously find a way to defeat Alabama?

Can we be real for a second?

Alabama is unlikely to  face a real challenge until it meets Georgia in the SEC Championship.

This is not what Nick Saban wants us write. This is not the “rat poison” that he wants his players reading because he does not want them to take any team, even Mercer, lightly. He doesn’t want them to buy what this article, and those like it, are selling.

But that doesn’t excuse the fact that it’s simply not true. Weeks before the now infamous Florida State game, I put in print that Alabama would win by 17 points and they did. I had weeks to research each position and who would likely win each man on man battle on both sides of the ball. You didn’t have to worry about injuries as much since it was the first game. To pick something like that now you’d have to guess how many players each team may have nicked up.

But if I did have to pick based on current information, Alabama’s wins would be by 23 over LSU, 19 over Miss. State, 53 over Mercer and 24 over Auburn. Again, hardly a greuling stretch ending run.

So while other writers try and build up interest in each game by pointing out places where each team will be competitive and present problems for Alabama, the truth is simple, Alabama is just vastly superior over all their remaining opponents on the regular season schedule.

While some teams have players have a few players on their starting 11 that could present problems, Alabama has players on their second and even third string that could present any of their opponents problems. The vast depth difference is just staggering in starting lineups and becomes even more pronounced when you get into the second and third strings.

Alabama can just come at these remaining teams in waves and while injuries to certain stars would decimate any of the remaining teams on Alabama’s schedule, Alabama could take them in stride and still prevail in all these regular season games.

The only surprise would be if Alabama wins by even larger margins that predicted. To think that they could lose one of these games is just fantasizing. Yes, Alabama is just that much better.

Larry has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports and now primarily writes here for Touchdown Alabama. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments at https://twitter.com/LBSportswriter

THANKS FOR SHARING THE LINK TO THIS STORY ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE OR A FACEBOOK GROUP YOU BELONG TO, FACEBOOK RESTRICTS HOW MANY PLACES WE CAN POST IT ON, SO PLEASE SHARE!