Alabama routed Arkansas by a score of 52-0 Saturday to improve its record to 3-0 and looked like a team that could very well live up to pre-season expectations.  The Tide took advantage of a multitude of Razorback miscues, which included two interceptions, three lost fumbles and a snap over the punters head.  The sloppy play of an overmatched Arkansas team led to a number of short field opportunities and Alabama repeatedly converted those opportunities into touchdowns and eventually a runaway victory.

     Four of the Crimson Tide’s scoring drives were of 30 yards or less and two of them started inside the Arkansas ten yard line.  The Razorbacks were without starting quarterback Tyler Wilson, who was held out due to a concussion against Louisiana Monroe.  Even with a healthy Wilson leading the offense, it’s hard to imagine that this Arkansas team would have been a match for Alabama.  The Tide physically dominated Arkansas on both the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage from the opening kickoff and by the end of the game had completely emptied the benches.

     The margin of victory was Alabama’s largest against an SEC opponent since a 55-0 defeat of Auburn in 1948.  The loss was the worst for Arkansas since a 77-17 defeat to USC in 2005.  The shutout was the second consecutive for Alabama, a feat it has not accomplished since holding Vanderbilt and Kentucky scoreless in back to back games in the 1980 season.

     The Tide offense was efficient both on the ground and through the air.  Quarterback AJ McCarron was 11-16 for 189 yards and a touchdown.  The Bama running backs combined for 45 carries for 235 yards and six touchdowns.  Once again, Alabama did not turn the ball over, and perhaps equally impressive was a perfect six for six on red zone opportunities.

     Defensively, the Tide held the Razorbacks to just 137 total yards (58 rushing, 79 passing).  The only glaring weakness for the Alabama team was its seven penalties for 74 yards, an area that will almost certainly be soundly critiqued by the coaching staff in practice this week.

     At this point in the season it appears that there are only two teams that can keep Alabama from running the table.  The most obvious is LSU.  The impending November 3^rd matchup has been talked about since the Tide rolled over the Tigers for the national title in January.

     The other is Alabama itself.  During the off-season, Nick Saban seemed relatively giddy about the focus of his team and their willingness to buy into his “process”.  Saban was more critical of that aspect of his team following the win over Western Kentucky, though, and voiced similar concerns about the first quarter play against Arkansas.

     When questioned by CBS’s Tracy Wolfson at the end of the first half, Saban described his team’s performance as “average”.  The Tide led the Razorbacks 24-0 at the time.

     Did Saban sense that his team was starting to believe the hype surrounding their early season performances?  The more likely answer is that it is just Saban being Saban.  Part of his philosophy is that the best way to fix a problem is not to have that problem in the first place. 

     College football games are lost every Saturday due to complacency and overconfidence of teams clearly more talented than their opponents.  It happened Saturday night as #2 ranked USC lost to Stanford.

     Many experts picked USC to easily win the PAC-12 Conference and play for the national championship.  Despite losing to Stanford, the Trojans are indeed loaded with talent.  They are also coached by Lane Kiffin.

     In a world with few certainties, one thing is crystal clear.  Nick Saban is no Lane Kiffin.  Or better yet, Lane Kiffin is no Nick Saban.

     In the off-season, Kiffin had no problem talking about what a talented team he had.  Saban repeatedly reminded everyone that his team had earned nothing.  They were not defending the national title, because that title belonged to last year’s team.

     With just minutes to go in the Tide’s steamrolling of Arkansas, Saban was clearly outraged at some of the mistakes his second and third string players were making.  He coaches not just to the final whistle, but beyond it. 

     Saturday, Alabama will face the Owls of Florida Atlantic University.  Georgia soundly defeated FAU by a score of 56-20 last Saturday.  It is reasonable to expect that and more from Alabama this week.

     Regardless of the score, when a third string cornerback misses his assignment with 2 minutes to go, he’ll have Nick Saban to deal with.  Because LSU beating Alabama doesn’t keep him up at night, but Alabama beating Alabama does.