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Nick Saban chats with quarterback Blake Sims during Alabama's 14-13 win at Arkansas two weeks ago.
(Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- It's not hard to see the difference.
When Alabama hits the road, its full offense doesn't always make the trip. In two SEC games away from Tuscaloosa, Alabama's totaled 623 yards while it averaged 637 in the two at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Production even dipped from gaining 396 yards against the SEC's second-best defense at Ole Miss to 227 against the 10th-ranked Arkansas defense.
That brings No. 4 Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC) to Saturday. The third SEC road test takes the Tide to Tennessee's 102,455-seat Neyland Stadium for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff. While the Vols (3-4, 0-3 SEC) are struggling on offense, their defense ranks sixth in the SEC allowing 326 yards a game. Against the pass, Tennessee is second in the league giving up 166.3 yards a game.
Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke candidly about the Tide's offensive struggles away from home. On his Thursday night radio show, Saban said he saw lower levels of confidence in the 23-17 loss at Ole Miss and the 14-13 win at Arkansas. Communication lacked and with it came uncertainty.
That resulted in negative plays. Ole Miss had six tackles for loss against Alabama, while Arkansas tallied seven. Then a week ago, the first team offense wasn't stopped behind the line once in the 59-0 pounding of Texas A&M.
"When we play on the road because the quarterback -- because of this anxiety that gets created -- doesn't really get us into the right play all the time," Saban said." Or in a critical play, we don't get it changed right. So I just think the big thing is we need better focus and better confidence in terms of what we're doing. Guys cannot play with anxiety."
The quarterback, Blake Sims said a lot's changed in the few short weeks since hitting his low point at Ole Miss.
"I grew from it in a lot of ways," Sims said. "Knowing what I have to do and showing it through my practice ability. Just trying to show the team that the feeling I had wasn't good. Whatever I have to do -- if I have to push you even harder, if I have to yell at you -- whatever I have to do not to have that feeling again, let's do it."
On the flip side, Alabama's defense has played exceptionally well on the road. Neither Ole Miss, nor Arkansas' league-best rushing attack approached 100 yards on the ground. The Rebels' four scoring drives averaged just 41 yards with three following special teams miscues.
But the offense didn't give that group much rest at Arkansas. The Tide went 3-and-out seven times -- two straight to open the game and three in a row after halftime. Both punt return fumbles in the first quarter also spoke to the mental block the Tide struggled with two weeks ago in Fayetteville.
"Who you are is really, really important and to be bullied by other people means you have fear," Saban said. "You're afraid. Well, when you're afraid by something, whether it's the crowd or the noise, whatever it is, that creates anxiety. And when you have anxiety, you don't play as well. You don't make as good of decisions. You don't have confidence because you worry about 'I might mess up' or whatever it is.
"We need to not allow those things to affect us and we need to play with the same confidence, the same enthusiasm, the same energy that we play with at home."
Sims isn't too worried about that.
"After what we did this past week, I'm ready to see what we can do on the road," he said. "Show everybody we can bring it from home and take it on the road and keep the same intensity."
Alabama offense: Home vs. road (with opposing defense's SEC ranking)
Home ...... ....Rushing ....... Passing ..... Total
3. Florida .......223 ............449 ...........672
13. A&M ........298.............304............602
Total ...........521 ............753.............1,274
Away............Rushing ....... Passing ..... Total
2. OM ..........168 .............228 ...........396
10. Ark ..........66 ...............161..........227
Total ...........234...............389............623