| Does Alabama care? That's seemingly the only question anyone is asking. It's tough to say. Since Saban got things rolling in his second year in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide have only been playing in a bowl game without the national title in play three times. They lost twice, and the other time the had multiple players say it was only Michigan State players flexing and talking crap to them before the game that got them ready to go. This is quite possibly the worst Alabama team since Saban's first year. It's only the second time (2010 being the other) that the Tide picked up multiple regular season losses. That 2010 team played 8 ranked teams, and beat 5 of them, by an average of 22.4, and had the Cam Newton national title team dead to rights, before a Mark Ingram fumble led to a massive collapse. This version of the Tide hasn't beaten anyone with a pulse, their best win being over a 7-5 Texas A&M team, and that was when they still had Tua. A decade ago? This game is outstanding, now, you just hope these teams care. There are a couple of reasons to be optimistic. First, Nick Saban has not hidden his disdain for Jim Harbaugh, dating back to at least the whole satellite camp thing. And while both have that midwest mentality, Saban would lock his team in the facility all week if he was allowed, and seems to detest any outside human interaction, while Harbaugh trots his team across Europe and gives quirky quotes. Second, these are two programs that absolutely pride themselves on defense, that's their identity. Yet, Alabama gave up 94 points in their two losses, and gave up 23 to South Carolina, 31 to Ole Miss, 28 to Texas A&M. The only teams this Crimson Tide defense shut down were Duke, New Mexico State, Southern Miss, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Western Carolina. For their part, Michigan's defense had another year of getting shredded by Ohio State, who has scored 118 points in their last two games. Last year, Michigan followed the Ohio State bombing by letting Florida put up 41 on them. If they go another year of looking good all year, then turning into a sieve in the final two games, the talk will really heat up. Finally, you've got Josh Gattis, with all the early season drama of who was the key to Bama's historic 2018 offense. You know he wants to show his old boss he should have paid up to hold onto him. I know there's very little analysis in this breakdown, but this is the ultimate "where are their heads at" game, so trying to look beyond those intangibles seems pointless. I think it's close, and when Alabama and Michigan are playing a close game into the 4th quarter on New Years Day, maybe it'll feel like this would have felt a decade ago. |