Bama needs to call in the blacksmith

because there is a crack in the armor. After dominating college football for the past 5 years, Alabama, understandably, has stuck with what has worked well for them. The problem is that other teams have adapted to find success against what Alabama is doing. The big slow defensive linemen dedicated to stopping the inside run are being negated by quick strike offenses running misdirection plays. This is especially true when facing a mobile qb.

The offense is designed for controlling the ball and overpowering the opponent's defense. The offensive lineman are also very large and sometimes not that quick. We saw the problem with the O line magnified in the Sugar bowl with the smaller, quicker OK defnsive line --especially Striker off the end.

Alabama is built like a professional team. We are designed to beat the big, strong teams like LSU that want to hit you in the mouth. In the future, we need to be better prepared to play the smaller, trickier teams that aren't interested in going head-to-head.

That being said, the OK qb played the game of his life last night. That is what it takes to beat Alabama. If he can build on that performance, they will soon be in the NC hunt.