Alabama not letting up on annual SEC foes

There has been a familiar lineup that begins and ends Alabama's conference schedule each football season under coach Nick Saban.

In the middle has been the ownership portion, which the Crimson Tide seem to be navigating without much difficulty yet again.

Alabama defeated Arkansas 41-9 last Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium, marking the Tide's 11th consecutive victory over the Razorbacks. Now it's Tennessee coming to Tuscaloosa, with Alabama looking to notch an 11th straight win in that series as well.

As Alabama tends to show every Saturday, owning another Southeastern Conference foe never gets tiresome.

"We just don't want to be satisfied," senior weakside linebacker Rashaan Evans said after Saturday night's humbling of the Hogs. "We constantly preach that, because regardless of how much you win, you can always improve. That's basically the atmosphere around our facility."

The 11th straight win over Arkansas followed a fifth consecutive win over Texas A&M. After this Saturday's game against the Volunteers, the Crimson Tide will have their lone open date of the season before setting their sights on a seventh straight triumph over LSU on Nov. 4.

Though he owns multiple-game winning streaks over every SEC foe he faces annually, Saban continues to preach about taking nothing for granted.

"You've got to give the other team credit," Saban said during Monday's news conference. "You've got to respect your opponent, and you've got to play to a high standard all the time. That's the challenge."

Alabama's 11 consecutive wins over Arkansas coincide with the Tide's 11 years under Saban, whose process-oriented program has dominated the SEC to the tune of five of the last eight conference titles, including each of the last three.

Florida was coming off the 2006 national championship when Saban, who coached LSU from 2000 to 2004, rejoined the SEC following a two-year stint with the NFL's Miami Dolphins. The Gators added another national crown in 2008, rallying past Alabama in that season's SEC title game, but the Tide have since won six consecutive games over Florida by at least 14 points.

Alabama won last year's SEC championship over the Gators 54-16.

"Coach Saban always preaches that it's about us and that it's not about the other team," senior inside linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton said. "We can only control what we can control, so if we focus on us we don't have to worry about anything else."

Tennessee had won 10 of 12 meetings over Alabama before Saban's arrival, trimming the Tide's edge in the "Third Saturday in October" rivalry to 44-38-7. Now the Tide's 16-game advantage is the largest in series history, and it's only showing signs of growing.

Alabama opened Sunday as a 34-point favorite in this year's matchup, the largest point spread ever for this rivalry, and the line had grown to 34.5 points as of Tuesday evening.

"The past has nothing to do with right now," Alabama senior center Bradley Bozeman said. "You just try to go into each week trying to get better than you were last week. That's the whole key to it."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.