Alabama is a 31 point favorite against Ga. Southern, 28 points based on the Sagarin ratings and add 3 more for home field. That said, I have watched with interest all of Alabama's previous games, including their "blowout" wins against Kent State, North Texas, and Penn State. Alabama's offense is not explosive enough to score 50 or 60 points against anyone, and we have a couple of All-American linemen and good DBs (imagine Southern Miss' defense for a comparison). Our offense, with the Triple Option, looks like Ga. Tech or Navy, but it started at our school in the 80's and Coach Paul Johnson then took it to Navy and Tech. Realistically, I would think that we will score 17 while Alabama scores 42 and, with about 5 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter, the game is out of reach. That has been a typical result with our teams versus top 5 FBS opponents in the past. (UGA-48-28 in 2004; Auburn 32-17 in 1991; Florida State 28-10 in 1988, Navy 13-7 last year, Oregon State 49-42 in 1999).
The difference maker, as always when we play a top 5 FBS school, is that your lines go 4 and 5 deep, while our hogs will get tired and have little or no substitutions. Many of our skill players will surprise you in that their speed and ability is every bit as good as an SEC program, but maybe they are a bit shorter.
P.S.-our kicker, Senior Adrian Mora from Dalton, Ga., is an All-American who is setting all kinds of records. in Division I Football. Alabama and Tennessee among other big schools recruited him, but wanted him to walk on as they did not wish to "waste" a scholarship on a kicker which is the policy of most biggie schools. I'm thinking that after the LSU game, you Red Elephants might want to re-think that policy. We gladly offered one of our scholarships to him, and we get about 20 less than the big schools do.