What's Wrong With Alabama?

Alabama looked unstoppable on both sides of the ball just three short weeks ago in their 42-21 victory over Florida, but a lot has changed since then.

A 23-17 loss to Ole Miss followed a bye week, and Saturday the Tide barely survived an Arkansas team that hasn't won an SEC game in almost two years.

Considering one more loss ends their chances at making the College Football Playoff, what areas does Nick Saban have to address to get this team back on track?

More Aggressive Playcalling

I don't know how much influence Saban has on new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, but Alabama's offense has suddenly gone vanilla after showing so much promise earlier in the season. Blake Sims isn't scrambling around as much and there aren't very many throws down the field. Instead, the Tide seem content to pound the ball up the middle, which hasn't been working.

Stop Force-Feeding Amari Cooper

Another reason the passing game has stopped working is because quarterback Blake Sims is to intent an throwing it to star wideout Amari Cooper as much as possible. Cooper is the best receiver in the country by far, and opposing defenses are planning accordingly. Everyone else should be getting more opportunities in the passing game, but that seems to make the offense more focused on giving Cooper the ball. It doesn't help that the other receivers haven't created much separation, but they need to be given more chances to succeed.

Eliminate Special Teams Mistakes

The past two games have been marred by fumbles or shaky ball-handling on seemingly every return, including the one that set Ole Miss up for their game-winning touchdown. 'Bama's defense has been every bit as good as advertised, but they can only do so much when opponents are given a short field. Eliminating these mistakes will limit the amount of good scoring opportunities opposing offenses get and allow Alabama to keep momentum.