Alabama improved its record to 4-0 on Saturday with an easy 40-7 victory over the Florida Atlantic Owls at Bryant-Denny Stadium.  As expected, the final outcome was never in doubt with Alabama taking control from the opening kickoff.  The Tide scored on its first six possessions and once again coasted to victory with its starters safely on the bench for most of the second half.

     The only suspense of the day was whether the team could run its shutout streak to three consecutive games for the first time since the 1966 season.  That question was answered late in the fourth quarter as the Owls mounted a 15 play, 75 yard touchdown drive against an Alabama defense made up of second and third team players.

     Asked about the shutout streak after the game, Nick Saban said simply, “We don’t talk about it”.  What the Alabama coaching staff and players do talk about is playing to a high standard in every game.  On Saturday, that standard was indeed met at times, while at other times Alabama looked like a team that knew its B-game was more than enough.

     Saban was mostly pleased with the performance, but also indicated his team has a great deal of work to do.  “I’m much more pleased with the way we approached this game”, Saban said.  “Two weeks ago, we were pretty average”.

     Alabama completely dominated the game statistically, but was unable to convert a number of drives into touchdowns.   The Tide settled for three field goals in the first half and another in the second half.

     “We didn’t dominate the score the way we dominated the game”, Saban said.  “We didn’t finish drives.”

     The ability to convert on those field goals could prove to be very beneficial as the season goes on.  Cade Foster, Alabama’s long-range kicker, has made huge strides since last season.  Foster connected on field goals of 51, 52 and 46 yards and Jeremy Shelley connected on a chip shot from 26 yards.  Settling for field goals against Florida Atlantic may be disappointing, but the confidence the kickers are building now could prove very beneficial against future opponents like LSU.

     One reason the Alabama offense wasn’t unable to convert more drives into touchdowns was lack of execution in the passing game.  AJ McCarron finished the day 15 of 25 for 215 yards, but a number of passes just missed the mark or were simply dropped.

     The passing game has been very efficient overall this season, though, and Saturday’s issues appear to be more of an outlier than a trend.  McCarron did improve his steak of passes without an interception to 176, his career best.  The receiving corps is very deep and extremely talented.  While they showed big play ability on Saturday, they’ll also need to make the routine catches if this team is going to run the table.

     “We had a lot of near misses today,” Saban said.  “We had chances to make big plays and didn’t finish the plays on three or four occasions where we couldn’t make the catch for a big play”.

     Alabama now turns its attention to Ole Miss.  The Rebels improved their record to 3-1 on the season Saturday by routing Tulane by a score of 39-0.  Their other victories are over Central Arkansas (49-27) and UTEP (28-10).  The Rebels lost to Texas 66-31 two weeks ago.

     For the Rebels to get the upset, they’ll have to do what other teams are typically not able to do against a powerful and fundamentally sound Alabama team.  They will have to slow down the Alabama running game and force the Tide into obvious passing situations.  They’ll also have to win the turnover battle against an Alabama team not known for making big mistakes.  Alabama has a +10 turnover margin so far this year, while Ole Miss is –3.

     Alabama will stick to the script that it has become known for during the Nick Saban era.  The Tide will attempt to use its dominant offensive line and stingy defense to control the game.  If Ole Miss loads up to stop the Tide running game, they’ll find that AJ McCarron and his receivers have the ability to do damage through the air.  In fact, going back to last year’s championship game against LSU, Saban has shown that he is willing to let McCarron throw on any down and distance situation.  The Alabama offense is one of the most balanced in the country, averaging 221 yards per game passing and 204 yards per game rushing.

     This is another game that Alabama should win, and win easily.  Ole Miss has lost 14 straight conference games.  The Rebels defensive coordinator Dave Wommack knows that breaking that streak won’t be easy.

     “I don’t mean to insult anybody,” Wommack said Saturday night. “But, we all know the difference between Tulane and Alabama.”  Truer words were never spoken.