When Alabama heads to College Station for Saturday's game, it will find itself in an all-too-familiar position: facing an opponent that was idle the week before.

Call it a conspiracy theory or bad scheduling luck, but since Nick Saban took over as Alabama's coach, the Crimson Tide have faced more teams with a rest advantage than any other team in the country.

Alabama fans don't need to be reminded of the 2010 season, when the Tide's final six SEC opponents were coming off byes, but the trend goes well beyond one season. Since the start of 2007, Alabama has played 25 games against teams with at least a five-day rest advantage (games in which Alabama's opponent had a bye and it did not), 10 more than any other team in the nation.

Already this season, the Tide played (and beat) Louisiana-Monroe after it had a bye. By season's end, the Tide's total games with a significant rest disadvantage since 2007 will rise to 27, tied for the most in the FBS.

This trend does not go the other way; Alabama has only had the rest advantage in four games since 2007, fewest in the SEC, resulting in the Tide averaging 1.4 fewer days of rest than their opponents in the past nine years (nearly a full day less than any other team in the country).

After the 2010 season, Alabama fans complained about the scheduling injustice, which prompted the SEC to strive to ensure that no team had to face more than three conference opponents coming off a bye in a season.

Has it made a difference? Alabama is the only SEC team that will face exactly three conference opponents after an off week in 2015 (including LSU in a game in which Alabama also has a bye) and has faced five such teams in the previous two seasons combined.

Does rest matter?