My continuance of a three-part series discussing the LSU Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Auburn Tigers as candidates for the SEC West title. Part Two.

Alabama

The Crimson Tide are the easy pick as a wild card in the West during the early part of this season. Everyone has said that next year is the year they'll be ready. I must agree.

Though they look awfully good right now, let's remember that they haven't won a game in November since 2006. The Tide always starts hot. It's the second half of the season that always nips at the heels of the Tide and inevitably brings them down.

The question has been about one thing the last couple of years in Tuscaloosa: depth—or lack thereof, rather. The Tide has the talent in its starters to hang with just about anyone...but not enough talent/experience in its backups.

With the addition of Nick Saban as head coach, Alabama has played younger and younger guys—freshmen who fit the system or simply outplay their older counterparts. Saban doesn't discriminate with age. This explains why 15 freshmen have already played through the first four games of this season for the Crimson Tide.

If Alabama stays healthy for the rest of the season (as they have been nearly without injury so far this season, which is unheard of) and the freshmen continue to play at a high level without making key mistakes, the Tide, just like LSU, could run the table. That road won't be easy.

Here, I will give special focus to the UA/UGA game since it is the game of the week.

Alabama has to face No. 3 Georgia in Athens this week. Georgia is one of the best all-around teams in the country and may be the best in the SEC. We will find out this weekend where both teams stand.

The thing that ultimately dropped the Bulldogs from first to third wasn't lackadaisical play on their part—it was the injuries they have suffered in the trenches. Their best offensive and defensive linemen were both lost to start the season (Sturdivant and Owens, respectively).

The game all starts with the trench warfare going on up front. If Georgia can't block NT "Mount" Cody with freshman Ben Jones and a fellow double-teamer, they will be forced keep the ball outside, which they will do with screens and sweeps to Knowshon Moreno anyway.

But what happens when Georgia needs a crucial 3rd-and-2? The Tide will surely be ready for a call that won't involve the A-gap. Thus, the play of the UA linebackers will have a lot to do with how the Tide performs.

Georgia has a special weapon outside of Moreno and backup Caleb King, though. They have a man named Stafford. The kid will force corners to keep close coverage throughout the game, putting yet more pressure on the linebackers in the flats and over the short middle of the field.

If the corners allow the WRs of Georgia to slip behind them at all, expect Matt Stafford to heave it as far as he has to without hesitation—and he has the rifle arm to do it, too. Don't forget about the WR play of the Bulldogs either. True freshman A.J. Green has been superior early on, while senior Mohamed Massaquoi solidly goes about his business.

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