Alabama Football: Weeks 7 and 8 Will Showcase the True Players

In college football, we love seeing a bright young star shine on the biggest stages. The real players, however, do it week in and week out. There is only one bye week.  

We'll address something that Nick Saban is certain to be drilling into his players' heads right now: Ole Miss and Tennessee are not "bye" weeks. They are game weeks.

After a lackadaisical first half against Vanderbilt, one would hope that the sense of entitlement and assumption that bad teams are a time to relax are both gone.  

Vanderbilt hung with the Tide for just 21 seconds shy of a full half. 7-0 against a team like Vandy after over 29 minutes is very worrisome. Had the trend continued into the second half, there very well might be a big fat "L" on the Tide's schedule right now.  

It's been said a million times before, and a million more after today: this is the SEC. Any team can win on any day. 

Ole Miss is horrible this year (as if they weren't last year). They are pretty much the worst team in the SEC, considering Vanderbilt thumped them to the tune of 30-7.  You can bet, however, that they have been planning ahead for the Crimson Tide.

It wouldn't be going very far out on a limb to guess that the Rebels have been having practices tailor-made to battle the Tide for much longer than the bye week they are in right now.  

This would be Houston Nutt's signature win to save his job at Ole Miss, where his seat has been hotter than Nick Saban's forehead when A.J. McCarron throws into triple coverage.  

Ole Miss will be putting everything on the field when they face the Tide. The kitchen sink, the toilet and heck, even the ice cube trays will be tossed at the Tide.  

The Tide also has to play in Oxford, Miss., so the fans will be lending their help as well. Going into Oxford with the mindset of "We played at Happy Valley and The Swamp, so this should be a cake-walk" is a good way to come home losers.  

Remember South Carolina last year? Sure, they played for the SEC Championship, but quarterback Stephen Garcia had the best game of his career against Alabama, who finished the year ranked 13th in the nation for passing defense.  

Tennessee could be an even bigger trap game if complacency becomes prolific, much akin to the third Saturday in October, 2009 edition. Something looking a lot like 12-10 could be in the future. 

Vols quarterback Tyler Bray is likely out for the rest of the regular season, but the backup, Matt Simms, is finally a senior and just might be one of those late bloomers. He is, after all, the son of Super Bowl XXI MVP Phil Simms.  

Could those quarterback genes kick in when Matt travels to Tuscaloosa, propelling him to have the best game of his life? A few lucky plays is all it takes.

The fans and the Crimson Tide themselves saw what happens when complacency kicks in: you are up by a single touchdown after 30 minutes against Vanderbilt.  

These next two weeks, when 'Bama battles the Ole Miss Rebels and the Tennessee Volunteers, will be the time when the real players show their true colors.  

They will be easy to spot: They will be the ones going lights-out, 110 percent, for the entire 60 minutes.