Alabama waltzed out of Bryant-Denny Stadium this weekend with an emotional victory over LSU only to have to face another SEC opponent in Mississippi State this Saturday.
Last season, the Crimson Tide escaped Tiger Stadium with a come-from-behind 21-17 win but fell to Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M the following week, 29-24.
However, the veteran players on this year’s Alabama team are intent on not letting that happen two years in a row.
“I think we’ve got enough really good leaders on this team and older guys to lead this team in the right way,” quarterback AJ McCarron said. “We’re not going [to] get caught up in this one win; it happened to us last year. We’ll be ready to go.”
Wide receiver Kevin Norwood echoed McCarron’s words and said the team can’t relax on the Bulldogs.
“I think everybody knows that we must continue to keep this momentum going so we can be up for the next game and the next game and the next game after that,” he said. “And I don’t think anybody’s satisfied. Everybody’s still hungry, everybody still wants to go out there and compete.”
The Crimson Tide played arguably its best football after halftime against the Tigers, scoring three unanswered touchdowns. Alabama fans and coach Nick Saban would like to see the team bottle that up and reenact its performance the rest of the season.
“The team we want to be is the team we were in the second half [against LSU],” Saban said.
O.J. Howard impresses teammates with long run
Tight end O.J. Howard has shown flashes of his athletic ability this season, but the 6-foot-6-inch, 237-pound freshman showed how dangerous he can be for the Alabama offense against LSU.
In the second quarter, Howard lined up on the far side of the formation, near the Alabama bench with an LSU cornerback giving him a generous cushion.
McCarron hit Howard on a slant pattern, and instead of a minimal gain, Howard blazed down the field for a 52-yard touchdown.
It’s unusual for a tight end to outrun defensive backs, but his teammates said it’s nothing new.
“I see what he does every day in practice,” right tackle Austin Shepherd said. “He’s a fast guy. I knew as soon as he caught that ball that he was gone.”
But it was shocking to the rest of the audience how easily Howard was able to race by the LSU defenders.
Norwood laughed when asked if he had ever seen a tight end move like Howard.
“Not in a long time,” Norwood said. “Maybe in the NFL or something.”
Saban frustrated with special teams
Despite smiles all around the field following the Crimson Tide’s latest victory, Saban still found something Alabama can improve on heading into its next game.
“Our special teams has not done the kind of job that they’ve done all year in the last two games,” Saban said.
A lot of that has to do with junior safety Vinnie Sunseri’s season-ending injury.
Sunseri was a fixture on several special teams units, and his absence is affecting one of the most consistent facets of this year’s team.
“We’ve lost some leadership on some of those teams. But I think some other people are going to have to step up … in the future and make some improvement, and it all starts with the attitude and intensity that we play with,” Saban said.
