Alabama Football: Crimson Tide Must Not Underestimate Florida Gators This Week

The No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide will be taking on the very dangerous No. 12 Florida Gators this Saturday in Gainesville.

Alabama has too much to risk and too much going for them to underestimate this deadly Florida team. They need to prepare for the game like it will be one of their toughest, and be mentally focused when they take the field.

The Crimson Tide and Gators are both undefeated in SEC play, with the Tide knocking off an unproven, but highly-rated, Arkansas team this past Saturday, while the Gators beat up on Tennessee and Kentucky.

Edward Aschoff of ESPN.com called it one of the great new rivalries in college football, and rehashed what their meetings usually mean.

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“Saturday, these will meet in Gainesville, Fla., on prime-time TV. Everyone who is anyone should be watching. This is a chance for us to get back our Ali-Frazier. Our Godzilla-Mechagodzilla. Our Michael Scarn-Goldenface!

“When these two played, the ground shook because it was for something—twice for the national championship.”

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Those two meetings for the national championship took place at the end of the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Both times, the winner went on to play for and win the BCS National Championship Game.

The rivalry lost some luster when Alabama crushed Florida last year in Tuscaloosa during the regular season.

It has a chance to get back to being one of the most important meetings in all of college football, as both teams are undefeated and Florida looks like it has a chance to at least keep this one close this year.

Alabama is the better team, in my opinion, and their defense is probably the best in the nation. They also have one of the more powerful ground games in the SEC as well.

You can’t underrate Florida, however, as they are just behind Alabama in points allowed and actually ahead of them in rushing yards.

This is going to make for one of the better games in the rivalry between the two historic programs, but I believe that the Crimson Tide will roll in a very close matchup.

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