Alabama Crimson Tide Preparing For Florida Gators: The Inside Buzz

With a day of rest to heal some bumps and bruises, the players all took the field for practice and no one was held back. That's good news for the Tide and shows how lucky we are that we are still all walking with one fourth of the season behind us.

There are some players walking wounded right now, but they should all be able to play Saturday.

Marcell Dareus is still a little gimpy with that ankle, but will play Saturday.

The good news is that the other end, Luther Davis, has seemingly recovered from his leg injury and should be 100% for the game. That means the best subs can now simply be worrying about filling in for Dareus if he can't go the whole game.

Courtney Upshaw is looking like he'll be at 100% during this Saturday's contest after limited playing the last few weeks. However, the backups have been doing so well, especially Nico Johnson, that you may still see a lot of substitutions there.

Also a little wounded is senior quarterback Greg McElroy, who had a leg tape on a deep bruise he's nursing. He is expected to be fine by game day.

Speaking of McElroy, on the fourth and inches with just seconds left in the game when McElroy sneaked for the first down, there were some punches and elbows in the pile up.

Mark Ingram took offense and came to his quarterback's rescue and risked another penalty by getting into the face of some Arkansas players while trying to pull up his friend.

The soft spoken Ingram is not always the Mr. Nice he seems as the week before he got an unsportsmanlike penalty for a headbutt to a Duke player he thought was trying to pull and injure his leg while he was down.

Saban has been preaching 60 minute intensity this week and the team seems very focused on delivering. They've heard the locker room material that Ingram "is not that good" as quoted by a Florida player and they know that Florida has the same revenge factor going for them that the Tide had last year.

However, at least so far, it's been business as usual for the team as far as emotion goes.

Though no coach or player has said it, Florida's euphoria over Trey Burton's six touchdowns last week doesn't mean he is the next Tim Tebow. He's Tebow Lite and if the Tide had no trouble stopping the better one last year, they shouldn't have a problem with Tebow Lite.

Jalston Fowler continues to work with the running backs even though Goode has been cleared and appears almost back to his old self. That could be a good thing because most think the Tide will pound the rock down the Gators soft run defense for most of the day Saturday.

One thing about this team that is apparent: except for some bumps and bruises, this is a very well-conditioned team and one that is very healthy.

Scott Cochran's fourth quarter program is more than a title for a fitness regimen, it was the difference between winning and losing last week in Fayetteville.

As Arkansas players stood with hands on hips sucking air, the 'Bama players broke huddle and jogged to the line with nary a hard breath among them. Cochran reminded them of that, I'm sure, and that is just fuel to add to fire to keep the same intensity burning next winter.

Tomorrow they will be in full pads and we should know then about how much game time to expect from Dareus. 

The game will be on CBS Sports in primetime (starts at 7:00pm central). I will be working the booth and sidelines to get you more information.

I will be at Coach Saban's press conference and player interviews as well. If you have a question you'd like asked, post them in the comment section and I'll pick some of the best to ask.

For something on the fun side read Larry's Loser's in the SEC Week Five at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/475013-sec-week-five-predictions-larrys-losers-in-the-sec