TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — With Alabama coming off a stinging home loss to Oklahoma in Southeastern Conference play and Eastern Illinois of NCAA Division I’s lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision visiting Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday, the 10th-ranked Crimson Tide will try to reclaim their rhythm before next week’s Iron Bowl matchup with in-state rival Auburn to close the regular season.
The Crimson Tide (8-2) won’t have a chance to strengthen their College Football Playoff positioning against Eastern Illinois (3-8), so the game is more about fine-tuning parts of their operation and staying healthy against an overmatched opponent.
“We have to use this week to continue to get better,” Alabama second-year coach Kalen DeBoer said. “That is the priority. That’s where our head needs to be in order for us to continue to have the outcomes we want.”
Eastern Illinois, which has lost six in a row, is 6-41 all time against teams from the upper-tier Football Bowl Subdivision but has never beaten a team from a power conference.
Alabama’s 23-21 loss to the Sooners last week made things a bit tougher on the Tide as far as playoff seeding goes, but they still control their own destiny for the Southeastern Conference title game and the 12-team CFP. A lackluster win against LSU two weeks ago and the loss to Oklahoma exposed a few areas that Alabama would like to clean up before traveling to Auburn, though.