Alabama mailbag: O-line and road struggles, plus Nick Saban’s most underrated players

I can’t be alone in pondering, “How is it Week 5 already?” This season appears to be flying by. As I talked about practically all offseason, Alabama begins a brutal stretch in its schedule because the calendar flips to October. Not many paid consideration to it, nevertheless it’s arduous to disregard: Three top-20 opponents in three weeks, with two of them on the highway, is certain to face out, beginning Saturday at No. 20 Arkansas (2:30 CT, CBS).

Alabama hasn’t performed its finest on the highway of late. In its previous 5 true highway video games, Alabama has:

beat Texas by one level

beat Auburn by two factors

beat Mississippi State by 40 factors

misplaced to Texas A&M by three factors

beat Florida by two factors

It’s been some time for the reason that Crimson Tide performed their finest, most constant soccer on the highway with regularity. Saturday’s sport begins a three-week midterm that ought to inform us the place Alabama stands within the panorama of this season.

Earlier than that, although, let’s get to some questions on what we all know because it presently stands.

What’s occurring with this O-line? It’s been fairly inconsistent the previous two years regardless of the arrival of high tier recruits. What’s your concept as to why they haven’t been as dominant as in years previous? — Tyler G.