Alabama Crimson Tide fans are pumped for the season-opening game against Western Kentucky. The enthusiasm will only be surpassed by how excited the players will be to play a game finally. There are many different opinions about what to expect Saturday night, none of them include giving the Hilltoppers any chance of winning.

In a full, regular-season prediction I provided a couple of days ago I settled on a 42-17 Alabama Crimson Tide win over WKU. I will not waffle on that prediction, but I will add for WKU to reach 17 points, a busted coverage in the Tide secondary must lead to a second touchdown.

It would be easy to guess Alabama’s new offense will put up more than 50 points. That is possible, but I doubt more than 50% of the Tide’s new offense will be used. WKU will likely provide so little resistance to the Alabama rushing attack, that not much will be needed through the air. Some Crimson Tide fans may disagree, but no style points are needed against WKU. Alabama will not chase points, and with new systems on both sides of the ball, Alabama possibly looking ragged at times will be no cause for alarm.

I hope to see what Kalen DeBoer has been preaching for months; consistency. Minimal penalties and no unforced errors; along with consistent intensity and execution will do fine, whatever the final score.

The Alabama NAACP issued a statement today criticizing Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl because of Pearl’s social media post earlier this week critical of Vice President Kamala Harris.

On the platform X, Pearl retweeted a post by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who claimed that Harris wanted to end private health insurance plans and put everyone, including illegal aliens, on government plans.

Pearl thanked Cotton for the message and suggested Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was trying to deceive voters by hiding her “woke progressive beliefs.”

Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP, said this in response to Pearl’s tweet:

“Kamala Harris is energizing her base which has a significant number of black voters, in her bid for the highest position in the country, and this is causing people to show us who they really are. Since 2014, Coach Pearl has profited off the talents and legacy of Black athletes, but by his own admission doesn’t understand the implications of his words. We do not have to ask, ‘will the real Coach Pearl stand up, because we know he does not want to understand what woke means.”

“The term ‘Woke’ solidifies the harsh conditions and inherent awareness of everyday racial injustices that people of color are subjected to in this country. One would have to be living under a rock to miss the cruel treatments inflicted on Black Americans in a place, we all call our home.

“There is no hiding the fact that Police brutality and brutal murders by police, racism, denial of equitable health care, and refusal to teach our children the truth about our history, all exist and are as visible as your hand is, in front of your face. The only way to not know what ‘woke’ is – is to just go back to sleep.”

Pearl, who has coached at Auburn since 2014, declined to comment on the NAACP’s statement.

Pearl has previously responded to criticism about expressing his opinions, including in an interview this week on Outkick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich.”

“We have graduated 40 kids in the last 10 years,” Pearl said during that interview. “And I don’t know how many of them are African American. But about 80 to 90% of my players are African Americans. So you do the math. I am so proud of that. I’m proud of those kids. I’m proud of their families. I’m proud of my staff. I’m proud of Auburn.”

Pearl said he did not fault people who criticized him.

“But as a result of being criticized, I’m not necessarily just going to all of a sudden go quiet,” Pearl said. “Look, I’ve got a basketball team to coach.

“But we also are in an election period right now and there’s a lot of discussion about it. Let’s have a discussion. You know what I’d like for both of them (Harris and Donald Trump) to do? I’d like for both of them to be honest with who they are and what they stand for.”

Harris was a co-sponsor of Bernie Sanders Medicare for all legislation when she was in the U.S. Senate but is not advocating for that as part of her presidential campaign.

The Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund released poll data Wednesday that shows Democratic nominee Shomari Figures with a 12-point lead over Republican nominee Caroleene Dobson in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District race. The poll has a 4.6% margin of error.

The polling was conducted from July 28 to Aug. 3 by Impact Research, a public opinion research and consulting firm that has “helped elect Democratic candidates at all levels” of United States government. It consisted of 400 people. About 80 percent were contacted via cellphone call, with the rest being contacted by landline.

Brandon Jones, director of political campaigns for SPLC Action Fund, said that the poll accurately reflected the redrawn district’s demographics and “what the electorate will look like in November.”

“This is a new district,” said Jones. “It’s a new dynamic for these voters who have an opportunity to be a part of a competitive congressional race.” Jones also said the Harris/Walz campaign helped reenergize voters in the district.

More: Voter turnout more than doubles in Alabama’s redrawn congressional district

Last year, in Allen v. Milligan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the proposed Alabama congressional district map was gerrymandered, discriminating against Black voters. While the state initially refused to redraw the map, defying a federal court order, a new map was eventually drawn. This allowed for another nearly majority Black district in Alabama and set the stage for the competitive primaries as a minority opportunity district.

“There was certainly a significant enhancement in the level of excitement and motivation and inspiration of people wanting to get actively involved in the campaign and wanting to be more engaged directly,” Figures said during a news conference Wednesday.

The last Democrat elected in the district was former Rep. Bobby Bright in 2008. He served one term before being unseated by former Rep. Martha Roby, who was elected the same year as 7th Congressional District Rep. Terri Sewell.

More: When does early voting start in Alabama?

Victor Hagan is the Alabama Election Reporting Fellow for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at vhagan@gannett.com or on X @TheVictorHagan. To support his work, subscribe to the Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Poll shows Democrat with 12-point lead in redrawn Alabama district