Alabama has struggled to keep its composure on the road for two straight seasons now.
Whether it be uncharacteristic lapses in judgment or momentum-killing presnap penalties, the Crimson Tide has started to develop a habit of being its own worst enemy on the road. And this Saturday’s game against LSU surely won’t make things any easier.
Tiger Stadium is notorious for being one of the most difficult places to play in all of college football and there always seems to be some extra juice in the building when Alabama comes to town.
Coming off of its bye week, Saban has emphasized to his players that this weekend’s game will require a great deal of focus and poise in order to handle the environment.
“Well, it’s great. They have a great tradition here,” Saban said to the media on Monday. “They have a great atmosphere. It’s always challenging to play on the road in this league, anywhere you play. Obviously, this is one of the more challenging places. All the more reason to have great focus and attention to detail.
“We can’t beat ourselves. We have to be able to have enough poise to be able to execute in this kind of environment, not let it affect us in terms of how we go about one play at a time and how we want to execute and get things done.”
Saban is hoping his squad avoids a similar performance from its loss to Tennessee a few weeks back where Alabama suffered a total of 17 penalties throughout the game.
Afterward, Saban believed some of the poor play could have been linked to anxiety leading up to the matchup, but if the Crimson Tide wishes to keep its postseason chances alive it’ll need to leave that on the bus.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
