What a difference a week can make.

     When Alabama suffered its first loss of the season to Texas A&M the hopes of a national title were severely diminished.  Sure, there were scenarios that would allow the Crimson Tide to get back in the picture, but the team no longer controlled its own destiny.

     With Kansas State and Oregon losing Saturday night, now the fate of the season appears to be right back in the hands of the Alabama team.

     As expected, Alabama easily rolled to a 49-0 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts.

     Now, with victories over Auburn this week and Georgia in the SEC Championship Game the Crimson Tide will be playing for its second consecutive BCS National Championship and third in four years.

     Sure, the formal voting process must take place and the computers must algorithm their way to a decision.  Realistically, though, for Alabama the path to Miami is simple – win and you’re in.

     The game against Western Carolina went pretty much according to script.  Alabama scored 21 points in each of the first two quarters and took a 42-0 lead into halftime.  The commanding lead allowed the starters to get some much-needed rest and the backups some playing time. 

     Quarterback AJ McCarron threw just six passes, and completed them all, for 133 yards and a touchdown.  Alabama ran the ball 40 times for 300 yards and was led by Eddie Lacy with 10 carries for 99 yards.

     According to Nick Saban, no serious injuries were sustained and the team will be in relatively good physical condition this week against Auburn.

     Expect the coaching staff to try a similar plan of attack this week against a struggling group of Tigers.  Auburn is a much better team than Western Carolina, but Alabama holds a clear advantage in virtually every match up.  They’ll attempt to use those advantages to get out to a big lead and finish off their cross-state rivals with an early knockout punch.

     A very physical contest against Georgia awaits, and if the Tide has a chance to put the Tigers in their cage early and rest the starters they’ll do exactly that.

Just two weeks ago, Georgia got out to a 35-7 halftime lead over Auburn.  They then unloaded the benches and cruised to a 45-7 victory.  The Alabama staff will almost certainly use that game film as a blueprint for Saturday’s contest.

The Tigers are giving up an average of 444 yards and 31.9 points per SEC game.  Those numbers place them squarely in the bottom third of SEC defenses with only Tennessee performing significantly worse.

The news goes from bad to worse when looking at the offensive numbers.  Against SEC opponents, they are averaging just 245 yards and 11.6 points per game.  Only Kentucky is has performed worse offensively.

     Mix in the fact that Alabama is ranked near the top of the conference on both sides of the ball and the recipe for a blowout begins to take shape.

     The Crimson Tide offense averages 439 yards and 36.3 points per SEC game.  Only Texas A&M gains more yards, on average, and Alabama is tied with the Aggies in point production.

     Defensively, Alabama leads the league in yards allowed with 268 per game and is second in points allowed with 12.9 per contest.

     There’s no logical reason to expect Auburn to be competitive with Alabama.  It’s been many years since the separation between the two teams has been this significant.

     There’s always the possibility of a team overlooking an opponent, especially with big games upcoming.  Given the recent developments, however, it’s hard to imagine Alabama looking past its biggest rival even when they are struggling.

     This team has been given a second chance to compete for a national title.  If that’s not enough to keep their attention then nothing is.

     They’ve found themselves in similar situations over the last several years.  In 2009, they underperformed for much of the game before putting together a game-winning last minute drive to defeat Auburn 26-21 and going on to win both the SEC and National Titles.

     Last year’s team took a different approach.  They dominated Auburn 42-14 with neither of the Auburn scores coming against the Tide defense.  Alabama then went on to smother LSU 21-0 in the BCS Championship Game.

     The 2012 Auburn team is significantly worse than either of those teams were.  And while the current Alabama defense is not as smothering as the 2009 and 2011 units, the offense has proven to have greater quick-strike capabilities.

     Upsets happen every week in college football and this Alabama team will be tired of hearing about it come 2:30 on Saturday afternoon.  Expect them to take that message to heart and to take their frustrations out on a beleaguered Auburn squad.