1. I'm scared of this match-up and it will likely determine the game. Stepfan Taylor had some success against us. I'd like to say that the Pitt game was an outlier in terms of our rush defense because Louis Nix means so much to us. I think Lacy and Yeldon can have some success on the edges, and hopefully ND can mitigate the damage from those types of runs.
2. Our secondary is better than people give it credit for. Jackson and Russell were often left in single coverage with Marquise Lee and Robert Woods, who may be the best two receivers in college football. They kept with them fairly well. I've heard that Cooper is an absolute stud though.
3. This scares me a lot too, mostly because I think he is going to get light up a few times. He's been knocked out of a few games and from the Bama games I've seen, you guys hit like freight trains. Earlier in the year he had a lot of trouble with the playbook. I think he's progressed a little bit, but would still mark Milliner down for a pick. I think you'll find that our run game can be stifled. Michigan and Purdue did it, and Stanford's defense battered us around pretty good. Golic's kid has improved a lot over the course of the year, so I am hoping that we're able to generate some sort of run game because we will want to shorten the clock.
4. Our defensive speed is not an issue like it once was. Our offense isn't really built on burners though. Cierre Wood has some speed and our third back is the fastest Sophomore in the country, but I don't think our speed in general will threaten your defense. We will have to establish drives.
With that being said, I think Bama's ability to run and stifle our run will be the huge key to the game. The ground game performance against George was downright scary. I'm hoping we force a fumble or two.
