Tide Tidbits - September 23, 2008

Green, Jones shine fast
Each wears No. 8, and the similarities in the two freshmen don’t stop there. Saturday night’s football game between Alabama and Georgia at Sanford Stadium will be more than another pairing of top-10 teams from the Southeastern Conference. It will showcase the nation’s top two receivers in the 2008 signing class, Alabama’s Julio Jones and Georgia’s A.J. Green. Jones leads the Crimson Tide with 132 receiving yards; Green leads the entire SEC with 300.

'Bama hoping to prove it's for real
No. 8 Alabama has routed two teams away from home, made a weekly climb up the national rankings and been awfully stingy on defense. But seriously, is the Crimson Tide for real? "Even if we win the national championship we're still going to have folks saying, 'They're not that good. It was luck. It was a fluke,'" cornerback Javier Arenas said. "We've just got to play our game. If we focus on stuff like that, we're going to go down." The Tide (4-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) can presumably dispel any lingering doubt with a win Saturday at No. 3 Georgia, or stir it up with an ugly loss.

Why throw the ball?
John Parker Wilson hasn’t exactly been lighting up the stat sheets. But thanks to a veteran offensive line and one of the Southeastern Conference’s top running back tandems, Wilson’s inconsistencies haven’t been that noticeable.

No drinking Kool-Aid of success
Upon immediate inspection, none of the Alabama football players brought in to speak Monday afternoon had any trace of red residue above their lips. No Kool-Aid for these kids, per head coach Nick Saban's well-documented orders. Not with No. 3 Georgia coming up. That would require something much stronger than fruit punch.

CAN BAMA AIR IT OUT?
Saturday's 6:45 p.m. game at third-ranked Georgia (4-0, 1-0 SEC) is the national marquee matchup of the weekend and will say much about the destiny of an Alabama squad still looking to prove itself on the biggest of stages. No player carries that burden more than Wilson. His role Saturday night figures to be massive. Statistics say the physical, run-first formula that has propelled the Crimson Tide (4-0, 1-0) to a flawless start and the nation's No. 8 ranking won't be enough between the hedges.

Roll Tide!