FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas and Alabama play each other today, but they also battle different opponents called the same name.
Standard won't be found with positions and numbers in the game program when the Razorbacks host Alabama in today's 11 a.m. ESPN-televised SEC clash at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
But The Standard, it's mentioned like standard but considered it capitalized Standard in Tuscaloosa, Ala., regarding how Alabama sets it, daily comprises Alabama Coach Nick Saban's opponent for his Crimson Tide to meet or exceed.
It's Saban's measuring stick regardless if Alabama's actual opponent plays the Tide in January's national championship game or is a rebuilding, struggling 1-4 overall/0-2 in the SEC like first-year Coach Chad Morris' Razorbacks.
Setting then meeting Saban's Standard has fueled the five national championships his Tide won from 2009 through 2017 and is favored to win again. The nationally No. 1 reigning national champion Tide rolls 5-0 with its closest game a 45-23 SEC victory over the Texas A&M Aggies that held off Arkansas 24-17 last Saturday at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium.
Saban alerts his Tide that Arkansas has improved from its 44-10 loss to North Texas three games ago in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks rallied from down 17-0 against A&M and only lost by seven with the ball near the end for a chance to tie or even win, Saban reminded on Wednesday's SEC teleconference.
Then he went straight to The Standard.
"Our players have to play to our Standard if they're going to be able to help us play to a level that you need to play on the road in this league," Saban said.
Great teams play to a standard. Dynasties, like Saban's Tide and the late Bear Bryant's five-time national champion Tide before him, or the late John Wooden's 10-time national champion UCLA basketball Bruins or retired Coach John McDonnell's 42-time Razorbacks track and cross country championships, all set a Standard.
It's a Standard set both from confidence in yourself and your talent yet respecting your opponent and continuing to seek perfection in tending to details and eliminating mistakes even if the opponent's talent can't remotely rise to the occasion.
While Saban's Tide long plays to its Standard, Morris -- from the ashes of last year's 4-8, 1-7 marking the end of Bret Bielema's five-year Arkansas era -- seeks planting an Arkansas standard.
It seems light years now from Saban's Standard, but at least it takes baby steps. The Razorbacks played better losing to SEC opponents Auburn and Texas A&M that are better than the Colorado State and North Texas teams beating them earlier nonconference.
The key for the Razorbacks today, regardless if they absorb the 35-point drubbing that oddsmakers predict or worse, is what Morris asserts.
"Embracing the opportunity to play against No.1," Morris calls the chance to showcase for themselves, their fans and prospective recruits they launch efforts at setting a standard long-range aspiring toward The Standard.
Sports on 10/06/2018