It wasn't a prediction or a premonition, a threat or a promise, but the words Nick Saban uttered not long after Alabama 31, Mississippi State 3 should scare Chattanooga.
And Auburn,
And Florida.
And Texas.
And yes, that was a prediction, and no, I didn't stutter.
Saban was speaking in the cramped media room outside the Alabama locker room. He was answering a question about Mark Barron and his two interceptions when the head coach suddenly remembered something he'd meant to say in his opening statement.
``One thing I didn't say is, it's like I told our team,'' he said. ``I think our best football is still out there someplace.''
Yikes.
Those words should scare the rest of the teams that have to look into Alabama's eyes the way Marley's ghost spooked Scrooge.
Alabama just beat Mississippi State by 28 points.
Top-10 teams Florida, Georgia Tech and LSU -- combined -- beat State by 25 points.
If Alabama's best football is still out there someplace, woe unto the other team that finds itself in that place.
That team will be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Alabama Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - al.com

So they been playin with a flat one all year?

Some games have been better than others. Since the bye week I've noticed a tremendous improvement in our execution. Perhaps the break was just what they needed. They really executed well against LSU and were nearly flawless tonight against MSU. That was the best performance from our team I've seen since Arkansas.

I was completely cut off from Bama tonight, I lost the remote and couldn't flip back and forth during our commercials. The Iron Bowl will make a big difference on how bad Bama beats Florida, and yes, they will beat Florida.

It will be interesting to see how they handle a complex offense like Auburn's. I'm damn glad they scheduled this UTC game first. They basically have 2 weeks to look at tape on Auburn and get ready.

Our O-line plus timing on play calls makes the difference, when they are both cooperating we are hard to stop. Problem is that this doesn't happen but for about 2 quarters worth of every game. Sometimes 1 quarter and others 3.

That was until you guys played a competent D like LSU. I guess putting 60 on Furman didn't really prepare you for UGA.

There were problems in the LSU game other than offense, if you watched it, and Our starters put 42 on Furman and picked up where they left off in the first quarter against Georgia. The play calls didn't exactly fit the timing in the 2nd or 3rd quarters against Georgia however.

This would be a great post if it had anything to do with what Fishionator said.

Yeah, it was hard for bad teams to stop you guys. But say LSU, UGA, and Ark........not so much.

and this might be a great post if it had anything to do with what Fish said.

I can't believe an Auburn fan just said that.

These would be great posts if they had to do with anything at all.

So, it goes without saying that Alabama can play even better than they already are, but it's absolutely impossible that Florida is holding back as well? It's not like only one team is going to show up to the SECCG. I think the argument can be made that neither team is firing on all cylinders. And we don't know what will happen when both do. Last year, Florida won.

look, nobody is saying UF is not a great team...I mean he!!, you are defending champs, and are undefeated. The early line I heard was UF -4.5, and we know Florida won last year.....but these are both different teams than they were last year. Ought to be a great one......RTR