Alabama vs. Mississippi State: Do the Tide Need Style Points Now?

Last weekend the Crimson Tide fell in defeat to the LSU Tigers in overtime.  With the loss, Alabama was no longer in the driver’s seat for the SEC but they also were all but eliminated from playing in the BCS national championship.

Hopes were high Sunday evening with the BCS rankings were released and the Tide only fell one spot. However, the Alabama faithful will soon find that the computers will be their enemy.

Alabama currently has two quality wins this season. Their victories over Penn State (8-1) and Arkansas (8-1) are their greatest argument going forth. However, Arkansas is expected to fall to LSU and who knows how far the Nittany Lions will fall with all of the distractions around them.

There is also the notion that the pollsters will drop Alabama during conference championship week to avoid a rematch.

This is the one area that Alabama might be able to have some say. They must win all of their games in dominating form. Many feel that Alabama is the second best team in the nation. However, they have to make such an imprint on the voters over their final three games that they go against tradition and logic.

The Tide have games remaining against Mississippi State, Georgia Southern and Auburn. Not exactly a gauntlet of difficulty. As a result, they will need to defeat all of these teams by at least four touchdowns.

The problem for the Tide is they have not looked dominant in the first half in the last four games. Against Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Tennessee and LSU, the Tide has only led at half time 43-19. The past two games they have been tied 6-6 in the first half.

The Crimson Tide will need to play four quarters of football for the remainder of the season.

Margin of victory is no longer officially a part of the BCS formula. However, the human voters are and they will take that into account.

The Tides chances of making it to the BCS championship are slim. So many things would need to go their way and these things are out of their control.

Several teams would need to lose and certain teams would need to win. However, for now, Alabama needs to go play the best football that they can.

They now have many critics and skeptics. Should a team that lost at home to LSU be able to face them again in the championship? Can AJ McCarron lead the Tide to victory in an important game? Can their special teams improve?

All of these are valid questions. However, the only one that Alabama can control is how they will play on the field now.

If they are dominant in every aspect of the game, it could make it interesting for the pollsters.