TUSCALOOSA -- Conservative and explosive don't of ten share a sentence concerning college football.
They are practically antonyms.
The exception to conventional wisdom, however, resides in Tuscaloosa. Alabama's offense has dialed it back through four games -- two against ranked opponents -- while not sacrificing the home run.
Now the contrasting principles have bled into other phases of the game. The Crimson Tide defense only truly blitzed once in a 38-14 pounding of then-No. 14 Arkansas, yet Razorback quarterback Tyler Wilson was limping like Brett Favre by the fourth quarter.
Third-ranked Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC West) scored touchdowns off a heads-up deflected interception by DeQuan Menzie. The 83-yard back-breaking punt return by Marquis Maze wasn't a radical overhaul of the blocking, he just took a different lane to crush Arkansas' morale.
The Alabama offense, though, does vanilla almost as well as Dairy Queen. Sure, the first touchdown scored Saturday came on a trick play, but we're counting that as special teams since the original formation indicated field goal.
The 37-yard touchdown pass from AJ McCarron came on the drive's seventh snap making it the longest touchdown drive since the Penn State game. Why so few?
That's right. The explosive plays, but without traditional dynamite.
Alabama has scored touchdowns on the first or second play of drives six times this season.
In all, Tide offensive players found the end zone 17 times through four games. The average touchdown drive spans just 4.9 plays. Only twice at Penn State has Alabama used 10 or more plays to score six this fall....
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