Landon Collins didn’t know Jeoffrey Pagan could run that fast.
Collins needed one more block on Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley when he saw the 6-foot-4-inch, 290-pound defensive end running alongside him.
Collins slowed down, waited on the hit and cruised to the end zone.
His interception return for a touchdown at the end of the first half was one of many nails in the coffin for No. 1 Alabama, which blew past Tennessee for a 45-10 victory. It rushed for 204 yards, passed for another 275 and had a 35-0 lead at halftime after Collins’ interception and essentially went on cruise control for the second half.
Alabama has outscored its opponents 246-26 since surviving a 49-42 shootout at Texas A&M. It’s made quick work of Ole Miss, Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee – the latter three of which all have first-year head coaches. But now comes the hard part.
Alabama will have a bye week before hosting LSU, going on the road to Mississippi State and (after hosting FCS Chattanooga) traveling to Auburn for a game that could decide the SEC West.
It’s crunch time in a season where Alabama is trying to do what no college football team has ever done – win three national championships in a row.
“You get defined by what you do every week,” head coach Nick Saban said. “We’ve got some big challenges and some stiff competitions against some really good teams coming up here. This bye week comes at a really good time for us.”
Alabama-LSU is always a big game, and that will be no different this year.
The Tigers have lost two close games on the road in what has been a wild season in the SEC. But LSU has the talent to compete with the Crimson Tide and won’t lie down and play dead. LSU won the last meeting in Tuscaloosa 9-6 in overtime.
“I’ve been looking forward to this day,” safety Landon Collins said. “I didn’t know I was going to play or what I what going to be able to do for the team. I just want to be able to dominate them like we’ve been doing in the past four weeks.”
The game is especially important to Collins, a native of Geismar, La., who was recruited heavily by both Alabama and LSU. When he announced his Alabama commitment on ESPN, his mother, an LSU fan, famously put her hand on her forehead and shook her head and, when interviewed, said she would have preferred Collins chose the Tigers.
He caught a lot of flak on Twitter and from his friends, who felt the same as his mom.
“It means a lot,” Collins said. “They tried to throw me in the dirt when I made the commitment. Getting a chance to play against them and actually be on the field and knock some heads with them, it’s a big thing to me.”
Collins, who is playing strong safety in place of the injured Vinnie Sunseri, didn’t know he’d have this big of a role when he faces his home-state team for the second time.
Alabama players all have their own reasons for wanting to beat LSU, and the game’s national championship implications are hard to overlook.
With Oregon, Florida State, Ohio State and Baylor cruising along below Alabama in the rankings, it looks like the Crimson Tide won’t be able to slide into the national championship game with a loss like it has the last two seasons.
And so the Crimson Tide, which has been steadily improving after a couple of uninspiring games to start the year, will head into the final stretch of the season with another national championship – and the legacy of the greatest run in college football – on the line.
“With every game that we go through, I think well-roundedly, our offense, defense and special teams are getting better,” center Ryan Kelly said. “It’s two different teams from the beginning of the year until now. We like the way we’re playing.”
