Considering Alabama's football team is averaging 498.0 yards and 43.9 points per game entering Saturday night's game at LSU, Crimson Tide receiver Calvin Ridley has to chuckle a bit when asked what is wrong.
"I'm feeling good," a smiling Ridley said in a news conference earlier this week. "We're doing good. We're undefeated. I think I'm doing pretty good."
The 6-foot-1, 188-pound sophomore from Coconut Creek, Fla., ranks fifth in the Southeastern Conference with 504 yards on 43 receptions. His 11.7 yards per reception match last year's average, and his five touchdown catches are just two away from last year's total.
Comparisons to last season were going to be inevitable for Ridley, who quickly became the top target of Jake Coker and set an Alabama freshman record with 1,045 yards on 89 receptions.
"I think he's having a great year," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. "Last year we were a different kind of team, and this year we haven't been able to get him the ball as frequently on the explosive plays that we were able to last year.
"It's not that we haven't tried at times. We just haven't succeeded at it."
The tone for Ridley's second season in Tuscaloosa was set in the first two games, when he had just 9 receiving yards in the opener against Southern California but came back the next week with 129 against Western Kentucky, including 98 in the first quarter. He had a 6-yard touchdown run in the third game at Ole Miss, but Ridley hasn't been as steady of a factor in an offense that coordinator Lane Kiffin has molded around the dual-threat talents of freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Hurts and Ridley have misfired on some potential big gains, which is why they team up for at least five deep balls after every practice.
"Being consistent with each other more in practice will help more with that," Ridley said. "We're going to get better."
Ridley had a 102-yard performance in last year's win over Florida in the SEC championship game and added another 138 in the Cotton Bowl pounding of Michigan State, but his overall game has improved this season due to his blocking. After the Tide rushed for 438 yards in their 49-10 win at Tennessee on Oct. 15, Saban praised Ridley, ArDarius Stewart, O.J. Howard and other pass-catchers for their blocking on the perimeter.
Alabama had 14 runs against the Volunteers in which there was no contact until at least 10 yards down the field, and Ridley still managed to collect five receptions for 65 yards. Saban offered more praise a week later following the 33-14 win against Texas A&M, and he's proud of how Ridley has performed in a very different attack from a year ago.
"He's handled it very well," Saban said. "On the first play of our last game, he's going across the field to block on a Damien Harris run, and you would have said he was shot out of a cannon. He's actually doing the things he needs to be doing to help the team be successful.
"Never has he shown any signs of being disappointed or frustrated."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.