re: So...Bama plays a mediocre game and curb stomps the #3 team.

I went back and watched last season's opener against USC recently for the first time since the game was played. It looked very similar to our game against FSU - we struggled early offensively and never really looked all that coordinated, and USC looked like they could hang for a while. We ended up blowing them out on the scoreboard, of course, but it was all big plays and turnovers, not really a start-to-finish beatdown. Last season ended up playing out pretty well for us, though. I expect this one to do the same.