Many things make Alabama hard to defeat, one is hardest and learned on the practice fields. (Photo-TDA Magazine)

The Hardest Thing To Beat if You’re an Alabama Opponent

By: Larry Burton

You can defeat the Alabama football on the field of play. It’s been done at least once in every season Nick Saban has been there except one. If anything, that seems to be easiest thing to defeat if you’re an Alabama opponent. What the hardest thing is to defeat, is not the score posted on the board, but the beliefs this team holds so tight they can’t be pried from their hearts.

These men come to Alabama as boys with hopes and dreams. They become men who have exchanged the hopes and dreams for more. They melted into their bodies and souls into a set of beliefs that makes this team not not only unstoppable in most cases, but unique in college football.

What these beliefs are:

If they outwork their opponents in practice and conditioning every day, they can outwork him on gameday. For every drop of sweat and blood they drop, there will be tears of joy to take their place.

If they out prepare their opponent in the film room and in game planning, they can outplay him on gameday. They know games are won in preparation just as much as on the field.

They will do the very best they can on every play of every game and never have to worry that any man on that Crimson Tide team will do any less. They do their job, every other man will do theirs.

Their coaches have come up with a better game plan than their opponents have at their disposal. Alabama coaches are better, smarter and know their players capabilities better.

They know they will never be perfect, that is not their goal. Their goal is to be just a little bit better today than they were tomorrow and never get the mindset that they’re as good as they can get. The striving to always improve is ingrained.

If they are behind, they are still in the game. If there is time left on the clock, they will prevail. There is no quit in any man or coach on this team and they will find a way to win because that is what champions do.  They are Alabama and they will win. Not because it’s taken for granted, but because they know the depth of each man’s conviction on their team.

Their goal is not to win the game, their goal is not to keep them from scoring on this drive or for their own offense to score on this drive. Their goal is to dominate the opponent on every play and make these things inevitable. Their goal is to make his quit.

They are with the finest force of coaches and men on this planet. They know they have their brother’s back and they have their own. They wear an Alabama jersey, but having that jersey covering their heart doesn’t make them who they are, the Crimson Tide blood that runs through their veins makes them who they are.

Because of that, they have an advantage before the coin is even tossed. Because of that they are feared by their opponent. Because of that, they have no fear.

These are the things that they believe, the things they know to be true. They are true because they worked hard to make them come true. Because they are Alabama, the gold standard that any other team measured by, the team that every other team aspires to be.

This is what they believe and this is what other teams just can’t defeat.

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, TWITTER, SNAPCHAT, INSTAGRAM OR OTHER PAGES OR A FACEBOOK GROUP YOU BELONG TO. PLEASE SHARE!