Ken Rogers column: Saban doesn't want Tide drinking Kool-Aid this time

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — What is it Nick Saban has against Kool-Aid?

Too sweet? Too many flavors? Too hard to make?

Whatever it is, he ain’t drinking it.

We saw Alabama beat Arkansas 49-14. He saw Arkansas gift-wrap two touchdowns to the Tide defense.

We saw Alabama pound Arkansas for 328 yards on the ground. He saw Arkansas pass for 217 yards and convert more third downs into firsts than the Tide.

We saw Alabama stop Arkansas four times inside the one for a big goal-line stand. He saw Arkansas twice score on fourth-down plays.

It didn’t take long for Saban to remind his team that the last time his team looked invincible — after crushing Clemson in the season opener — it followed with a lackluster performance and staggered past Tulane.

“What’s your self-confidence, what are you telling yourself?” Saban said after the Arkansas game. “If we get full of it, if we drink the Kool-Aid too much, as I say, which I think we did after the Clemson game …”

He didn’t need to finish. Alabama can’t follow up its win over Arkansas with a step back. The Crimson Tide faces Georgia this Saturday night on the road.

The coach even poked fun at the media. Saban waved the caution flag immediately after the Clemson game.

“Everybody got all over me for being Attila the Hun for saying it, but I was right,” Saban said, drawing laughter. “I’ll tell you that straight up. You’ve got to learn that.”

He also said he’ll be looking for similar signs of letting up this week.

“You can tell from the body language and you can tell from the intensity and the mental energy guys have in meetings, walk-throughs, watching the film. It doesn’t have to be a scrimmage to figure it out. That’s something we have to maintain, the mental energy we have, not just to play the game but prepare ourselves so we can play the game effectively.”

There was a lot to like Saturday. Alabama scored the most points in an SEC game since it beat Vanderbilt 59-28 in 1990. It’s the most in a road game since a 62-27 win at Ole Miss in 1989.

But Alabama is not five touchdowns better than Arkansas. A perfect storm of turnovers and explosive plays took the Razorbacks and their fans out of the game early. Saban knows that.

“I think my message to our team just now was, ‘You really don’t have to be sick to get better.’ There are a lot of things we can improve on in this game, there are a lot of things we need to do to get better,” the coach said. “We made a lot of mistakes today.”

The physical mistakes will be shown on film. Again and again and again to the offenders. Saban’s point of emphasis after the game seemed to be on the mental preparation for the bigger challenge ahead.

“Everybody’s got ability, everybody’s got knowledge, understanding, what’s expected of them,” Saban said. “But do you have the desire and do you have the self image in terms of how you feel about yourself, what your confidence is?

“Do you have the desire to do it all the time and have a high standard of excellence? Well, three and four usually take over one and two. That’s all about competitive character, what your desire is, motivation, as well as how you feel about yourself.”

Alabama should feel like it passed a big test Saturday. But the road to the SEC championship doesn’t run through Fayetteville. It does, however, go through Athens, and continues well after that.