The winner of the Alabama-LSU game, slated for Saturday, November 5, need complete only a few victory laps—the remainder of the schedule, the SEC championship game against whatever hapless sacrifice the East sends, and the national title game against whatever sacrifice SOC sends—to add another crystal football to its case.

Or so the overwhelmingly leading narrative goes.

To be fair, it is difficult to quibble with current positive assessments of these squads. LSU has terrific speed and size, and (at least for the moment) appears to be devoid of that trademark Milesesque erraticism. Alabama may have its most complete team of the Saban era yet, and wow, are they hitting hard on defense. We may in fact be headed for a game of uncommon consequence; the match of the year.

But it’s a way out there, folks. There are things like fatigue and possible injury to consider. And—oh yeah—those pesky other opponents between now and then. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m excited about it too, and I’m delighted with my Tide so far. Let’s just enjoy it all, okay? This is by far my favorite sports season, but it’s also by far the shortest one. Let’s not wish it away. Looking around:

Can you ever remember a deader man walkin’ in September than Houston Nutt in 2011?

I kind of hope Richt hangs on at Georgia, just because I like him. It’s tough to quibble much with Bulldog fans’ complaints, though. I think he has to win the division to keep his job.

Looking forward to Alabama at Florida. I really don’t know what to make of the Gators. That’s why they play the games!

It looks very much as if Auburn cannot reasonably expect to win any of its next four games. Their defense is so bad, it’s difficult to write even a plausible upset scenario. Consider they have not faced a high-power offense yet.

Is Vandy headed back to a bowl in James Franklin’s first year? It certainly looks doable from here.

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