Takeaways from Alabama Football's Lesson-Learning Win Over Arkansas

The Crimson Tide played three quarters of underwhelming football but still came away with its 17th straight win over the Razorbacks.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — What did you expect?

An 11 a.m. kickoff following a massive road win at Texas A&M last weekend? That screams letdown. That's exactly what happened, as No. 11 Alabama held off Arkansas, 24-21, moving to 6-1 on the season and 4-0 in conference play.

The Razorbacks lost yet another close game on the road this season. Arkansas lost by three points at LSU on Sept. 23, seven points at Ole Miss last week — and by three points again in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

It wasn't a performance to be thrilled about, but the Crimson Tide did pick up the win, taking another step towards an SEC West title.

Here are my biggest takeaways from Alabama's lesson-learning win over the Razorbacks:

Don't Overthink the Result

Yes, it was ugly. Yes, the Crimson Tide was favored by 20 points. But let's not overthink the result. Alabama is going to be fine, despite letting an 18-point lead get away.

The Crimson Tide went into the locker room up 21-6 at halftime and took its foot off the pedal. Alabama shouldn't have done that, but it did. The Crimson Tide still hasn't played well for the full 60 minutes of a contest, but it did enough to win against an SEC team that nearly won at LSU and at Ole Miss last week.

Arkansas fights, and it fought again on Saturday.

On a positive note, Alabama got the ball back with 5:19 to go. It didn't give it back, going 28 yards on nine plays to put the game away. The Crimson Tide defense also held strong on the Razorbacks' final drive.

Alabama shouldn't have gotten complacent in the second half, but at the end of the day, the Crimson Tide got the result it wanted — another SEC win.

Five More Sacks

At this point in the season, I'm not sure how much better Alabama's offensive line can get. The sacks continue to pile up, with Jalen Milroe taking five more on Saturday.

It may be the thing that keeps this team from winning an SEC or national championship. And the Crimson Tide has tried different guys, too. Left tackle is a serious sore spot for the Alabama offense, regardless of who's in the game between Kadyn Proctor and Elijah Pritchett.

Let's face it, this isn't a problem that is going away soon — you can thank the transfer portal for that. The Crimson Tide lost a lot of its depth at a bunch of positions to the portal, and it's facing the consequences now. Javion Cohen, Tommy Brockermeyer, Damieon George, Amari Kight and Tanner Bowles were all on Alabama's roster a season ago.

They aren't anymore.

Second-Half Struggles for Jalen Milroe

A week after playing the best game of his young career, Milroe struggled on Saturday in the second half. After 215 passing yards in the first two quarters, he added just 23 more in the final two quarters.

Oftentimes, it was missing throws high and low. A couple passes were dropped. Like the rest of the team, Milroe lost his focus in the second half. He took responsibility for it after the game.

The Crimson Tide is going to need last week's Milroe back next week against No. 19 Tennessee. Time will tell if he can deliver on that.

Missing the Message

All week, head coach Nick Saban said Arkansas was better than its 2-4 record showed.

Remember Saban's "importance of nothing" lecture on Wednesday night? After something like that, the team usually responds in a big way. Instead, they proved Saban right. They didn't bring the intensity required for 60 minutes, and because of that, nearly lost to a program Saban has never lost to while at Alabama.

And it all begins at practice, which Saban led on wasn't great this week.

Let's say the Crimson Tide beats both Tennessee and LSU. That will create an opportunity for a letdown on Nov. 11 at Kentucky. Alabama could leave Lexington with a second loss if it brings the same mentality it did on Saturday.

After a Week 2 loss, there's no room for error. The Crimson Tide needs to act like that's the case every week it plays, regardless of the opponent.

See Also:

Nick Saban: Alabama Has to Learn to Beat Opponent, Not Just Win the Game