Crimson Red Sports

The Crimson Tide has outscored its opponents 45-8 in five final quarters so far this season, but that statistic only begins to tell the story of how Alabama has beaten down and demoralized its opposition. Consider that UA has only thrown six passes in the fourth quarter, that it is averaging more than 10 yards per carry, that opponents have completed just 38 percent of their pass attempts, turned the ball over four times and average less than 2.5 yards on the ground.

Factor in the fact that Florida, trailing by three touchdowns the first time it took possession in the final period, attempted just one pass; and that Arkansas waved the white flag by lifting its starting quarterback with more than 10 minutes to go.

Oh, and don't forget that Alabama has exerted this fourth-quarter dominance with head coach Nick Saban more interested in running out the clock than adding any more points - and that much of it has been accomplished with backups on the field after the starters have left the games.

http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1274370

When I attended the last scrimmage before the A Day game this year, CNS spoke with us and the one thing he really emphasized on was what Bama gave up in the 4th quarter last year, with a lot of aggravated stares. The Auburn game is still burning inside of him and probably always will, but it has taken the coaching to another level this year to make that doesn't happen again.

Arkansas (by halftime), completely gave up trying to run the ball. Even if you're not having much success on the ground you still try to mix 'em up a little to keep the "D" guessing. The Hogs didn't bother. LOL

They needed those downs so they could throw some more incomplete passes.  HTH.

Imagine what the 4th quarter stats would look like if we still had our starters in the game. All our games have been over midway through the 3rd quarter.