Alabama Football Remaining Focused Despite Early Start on the Road at Kentucky

The Crimson Tide and Wildcats are set for an 11 a.m. CT kickoff on Saturday in Lexington.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama Crimson Tide has just three games remaining in the regular season.

After impressively winning seven straight in a daunting stretch, No. 8 Alabama has three winnable games left, beginning on the road at Kentucky on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide (8-1, 6-0 SEC) and Wildcats (6-3, 3-3 SEC) are set for an 11 a.m. CT kickoff — noon local time.

Alabama has played just one early game this season, a 24-21 win over Arkansas in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 14. Surprisingly, the Crimson Tide didn't come out of the gates sluggish — Alabama opened up a 24-6 lead. However, the Crimson Tide was unable to sustain its play for the full 60 minutes, and the Razorbacks almost came back to win.

"I think this team has created an opportunity for itself, so everybody has to make a choice," head coach Nick Saban said Monday. "What do you want to do? To prepare and continue to play at the level we’re capable of playing at and continuing to improve. I don’t think this is a time for anybody to be complacent. [...] You’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to keep grinding. You’ve got to keep focused on what you have to do to get better and prepare for the next game."

The Crimson Tide's wake-up call will come at 7 a.m. in Lexington on Saturday morning. At that time, it will be 36 degrees.

“They’re all the same," wide receiver Kendrick Law said. "If we have an 11 o’clock game, like we do, the breakfast time is gonna always be the same. The schedule is always set the same. So you might as well get used to it. Coach Saban is gonna get up at the same time, we’re gonna get up at the same time. We’re gonna get our feet down and we gotta be ready to play ball at 11 on kickoff."

"We had great wins the last two weeks," running back Jam Miller said. "We can’t let off this week. Kentucky is a great team. They have a great defense. We have to keep our intensity up. We’ve got to practice the same way we were practicing going into the LSU and Tennessee game."

Defensive end Justin Eboigbe is ready for a hard-nosed, physical game.

"They've got a great group of guys on the [offensive line], great running back in Ray Davis. I feel like it's gonna be a hard-nosed game," Eboigbe said. "We gotta get up, it's an 11 a.m. [kickoff] time. Playing in Lexington, it's gonna be a tough matchup, but we feel like can prevail if we all things right."

"We're gonna be where our feet [are] at 11 a.m. in Lexington. We know we've got a job to handle the mission and get back to Tuscaloosa."

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