Huge game for ‘Bama this weekend. Have faith in their back eight to get it done. Tyler Wilson and his slew of receivers are a tremendous challenge, but I think the Tide defense is up to the task. Will preview and give my prediction tomorrow. A.J. certainly needs to step up. I like the way he played against North Texas. I know Arkansas is a different and harder defense than what A.J. has seen so far, so we’ll see how he handles it. Running game and defense and some key passing by A.J. will win this. Arkansas would like nothing better than to spoil Tide’s season and they have plans of their own. They want to play for national honors as well and win the conference. I don’t think their defense is great, but A.J. hasn’t seen an SEC defense yet, so it will be a major challenge for him. His managing of the offense and some clutch passing will help his team win. That’s an if. The oline is good. I know they have their struggles at times, but I like their talent and size. I think they can handle Ark’s defense. Trent and Eddie need to step up big time in this game and Hanks and Maze will be big along with guys like DeAndrew White, Brandon Gibson and Christian Jones. It’s going to be a war. I like the Crimson Tide’s defense better, but I like Arkansas’ offense better. Those wide receivers are just so dangerous. Greg Childs, their stellar wr and maybe the leader of that talented corps, was out last week with a family issue. He’ll be back. Dre and DeQuan will be tested early and often. Lester and Barron have to play big. Linebackers need to make plays all over the place and dline needs to get some pressure. Sure S and  Smart will mix in a lot of blitzes with different outside and inside blitzes to rattle Wilson. Tide needs to be able to play better offense to get this victory. A.J. has to produce in the passing game and Trent and Eddie have to get it done on the ground. Of course, the line will have a big say in that. I trust Barrett, Vlachos and teammates. Think they can produce. 2:30 CT on CBS. Prediction tomorrow.
AU has pretty much a gimme this Saturday with Florida Atlantic. 6PM on ESPN Game Plan. Need to get the defense headed in the right direction. A friend of mine told me the Tigers didn’t blitz up the middle enough against Clemson. They need to put more pressure on the good quarterbacks. This will be a good training week for that. That defense is worrisome. Thought Tigers would beat Clemson. Trovon Reed’s punt return out of the end zone and Trotter’s int in the fourth quarter were key turning points in the game. I thought Trotter played pretty well. Made one mistake, but he was just trying to make a play. The defense puts so much pressure on the offense because they can’t stop people. There’s youth on defense. But they must scheme better with more blitzes and they need to work on their tackling. It’s not good right now. Just need to regroup this Saturday. Need a good effort with a lot of improvement, particularly out of the defense. Michael Dyer playing exceptional. He needs more carries. Receivers looked pretty good. Liked what I saw out of Travante Stallworth. Blake caught a TD, but was kind of quiet and I don’t think Lutz got a pass thrown his way. That needs to change. Reed hasn’t proved much yet. He needs to get going. They were so high on him in the spring that I expected a game breaker, but he hasn’t shown that ability yet. He needs to step up.

But it’s mainly the defense. The offense is going to be fine. Malzahn will have them ready and they will execute. Gene Chizik and Ted Roof need to do something about their defense. The first thing they need to do is get these guys to tackle. Then they need to install some more coverages and blitz packages. The defensive line needs to get better, too. Corey Lemonier and Jeffrey Whitaker were four star players; they should be playing better. Nosa Eguae has not done much either. He was stellar at the end of last year. That needs to change. Hopefully they can get it started this weekend and then get ready for a tough October where they go to South Carolina (Oct.1), then to Arkansas (Oct.8), then host Florida (Oct. 15) and then go to LSU (Oct. 22). That’s brutal with an inexperienced squad in places. So they’ve got to grow up quickly. But I think AU fans need to be realistic. You didn’t expect an SEC championship when you lose 24 or however many seniors there were. It’s just not happening this year. But the team can be the best they can be and maybe pull out some they’re not supposed to. They can figure some stuff out Saturday then prepare for SC.

Other games:

Vandy @ SC: 6 P.M. ESPN2. Are the Dores for real? We’ll find out Saturday. They’re certainly a lot better under James Franklin. SC just got by Navy, and I watched that game and Navy is a good football team. Could have beaten South Carolina. Just too much Marcus Lattimore (37-246). If Vandy can just keep him to around 1oo-120 yards and not let him go off and make Garcia try to beat them, that would be a big help. Dores’ offense has to throw the ball down the field also. It’s a big challenge for a team that hadn’t won much in a while and is trying to prove themselves under a new, focused, intense coach. Could be interesting.

LSU @ West Virginia, 7 PM, ABC: Another challenge for LSU. West Virginia has a great offense. LSU has a great defense, but their offense is just not there. I don’t think Jarrett Lee–though he’s better than I thought he’d be–can really help this offense flourish. Their running backs, Spencer Ware and Michael Ford, are tough, but they’re not game breakers. The receivers are pretty good. They’ve got pretty good skilled players, but a suspect quarterback. This is a challenge in Morgantown. The Mountaineers will be fired up to knock off LSU. It’s going to be a tough for the Bengal Tigers. I haven’t decided yet on who I’m picking–I’ll pick tomorrow–but I could go with the upset. Think the LSU defense is excellent, but the offense is anemic at times. Don’t know if they can score enough to beat this team. Their defense will have to carry them.

Georgia @Ole Miss, 11:21 AM, SEC Network: Georgia has to have this game. Mark Richt really needs this. Houston Nutt needs it pretty badly, too. Both guys jobs are on the line this year. Ole Miss looks sunk at quarterback. Georgia, in my opinion, is a good football team despite the 0-2 start. Thought they lost to an outstanding Boise State team and kind of blew it against SC. They need to get this done.

Florida @ Kentucky, 6 PM, ESPN: Florida needs to keep their momentum going after last week’s convincing victory over UT. Chris Rainey looks like the offense at this point. He is a dominant player. The rest of their offense needs to catch up. Not sold on John Brantley yet. If somebody can stop Rainey, it’ll be interesting to see if Brantley can get it done. Stopping Rainey is pretty hard. He is one of the fastest guys in college football and he’s tough. Gators make a lot of mistakes though. They always have. Penalties and some turnovers. Can’t call them great yet. Not sure they are. They still have some proving to do. Kentucky pretty hapless. Gators should take care of business in Lexington.

Louisiana Tech at State, 6 PM, ESPNU: State should win, but just don’t know how they’re going to bounce back from two difficult games. Not sure Chris Relf will be the starter. They have to regroup or the season will be lost. After losing to Auburn and getting pretty much dominated by LSU in the second half, they’re in some trouble. Thought they could be an underdog in the west and maybe do some pretty special things. Doesn’t look that way now. Mullen is going to have to right this ship. Don’t know much at all about La Tech. Will know more tomorrow.

Off: Tennessee

A.J. McCarron is under the gun this Saturday.