Football Travels to Fayetteville for Top-20 Matchup with No. 16/18 Arkansas
10/3/2016 3:40:00 PM | Football
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama football team returned to full practice for an hour and 20 minutes of work in shells on Monday afternoon at the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields.
It was Alabama's first practice following Saturday's 34-6 win over the Kentucky Wildcats. Next on the schedule for the Crimson Tide is a matchup in Fayetteville with No. 16/18 Arkansas. The 6 p.m. CT kickoff will air live on ESPN with Joe Tessitore, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe calling the action.
The Razorbacks enter Saturday's game with a 4-1 overall record, including an 0-1 mark in Southeastern Conference play. Arkansas is led by head coach Bret Bielema, who owns a 22-21 mark in his fourth season in Fayetteville and 90-45 career record between Arkansas and Wisconsin.
Alabama holds the all-time series advantage, 16-8 (19-7 before forfeited and vacated games), and has won the last nine matchups between the two squads. Most recently, the Crimson Tide took down the Razorbacks, 27-14, at Bryant-Denny Stadium a season ago. Â
Nick Saban met with the media on Monday afternoon. Following is his opening statement:
"Well, not a lot of different feelings about the last game in terms of how we played after watching the film. I think we did a lot better in the second half than we did in the first, but I think the question I would ask is how much did the other team really stop us, and how much did we stop ourselves? Whether it was a dropped ball; a missed assignment; not getting the ball out of our hand where we need to; giving up a play on defense; whether it's not the right run fit, gap fit or whatever; these kinds of execution things are really important, especially when the whole emphasis needs to be that we need to play better over and over again when you play better teams. I think we had some outstanding performances in the game. I think our team is making progress, but we need to continue to do that and continue to work, because every week in the SEC is a real challenge and a real test. That certainly won't be any different on the road against Arkansas.
"I think Arkansas has a really, really good team. Their quarterback is playing great for them. They are very well coached. They have some very good skill players, good wide receivers and good running backs. They have eight starters back on defense and they are playing really well on defense. The punter has done a great job for them all year long, so this a really strong opponent who has only lost one game this year and certainly has shown an ability to finish games and win close games in the end.
"We don't have any real injury problems. We have a couple of guys that will be out there in black shirts today. ArDarius Stewart will resume practicing today and we're hopeful that he'll be able to get through the week and make the kind of progress he needs to make to be able to contribute in this game. We are really happy that Joshua Jacobs got named SEC Freshman of the Week. I think it is a great honor for him, and he did a fascistic job (against Kentucky)."
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