Alabama still has chance to 'show the country we are the best team'

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Talking to Alabama football players this week, there's a different dynamic.

They're relaxed. The incredible burden of perfection is gone.


AJ McCarron on the stakes involved with Sugar BowlAlabama quarterback AJ McCarron says there's a lot on the line against Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. the goals are still very real as they enter the Sugar Bowl against fellow-traditional power Oklahoma.

"It's only right we finish out on top," said quarterback AJ McCarron, who was especially loose in his interview. "We still have a chance for a 12-win season, Sugar Bowl championship, which is huge. It's a BCS bowl. Not a lot of teams in Alabama history have won 12 games."

In fact only six teams — including four of the past five — in program history can claim that win total.

But there's more.

"Not only that, I saw something someone sent me, that Vegas said if we played Florida State or Auburn again we'd still be favored in points," McCarron said. "So we have a chance to show the country we are the best team. We might not win the national championship, but we can have everyone talking about us more than the national championship team. And that's happened in the past.

"We still have the opportunity to do that. So we have to go out the right way."

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