This is an opinion column.

This was looking like just the Saturday this Alabama team needed.

After playing bloody knuckles every weekend practically all season, a casual homecoming before hitting the Tennessee-LSU gauntlet appeared on schedule.

But, like it’s been all season, nothing comes easy.

No party starts early even if this Crimson Tide mentally punched out before the buzzer. The 24-21 win over a punchy Arkansas team was so close to satisfying for an Alabama team addicted to the drama.

Perhaps it is playing down to a team that’s lost five straight games.

Maybe they got satisfied after building what felt like a cushy 24-6 lead.

Either way, it’s ominous foreshadowing with a two-game stretch looming against the two teams with whom dangerous living doomed a playoff bid a year ago.

While neither Tennessee (next week) nor LSU (on Nov. 4) has the same juice as last year’s teams, fall flat like Alabama did Saturday and there will be issues.

This is a Crimson Tide team on a tight wire without a net since Week 2 and Texas and the sense of urgency didn’t match the scenario.

“We lost intensity in the second half,” starting offensive guard Tyler Booker said. “That’s what it boils down to.”

Interesting.

What’s that about?

“It’s just a lack of attention to detail,” Booker said.

The honesty is appreciated since the product back it up. What’s notable is the reversal within the storyline. This had been a team that started slower before hitting the gas after halftime. There was a hiccup early after halftime at Mississippi State, but this had been in the ballpark of a Scott Cochran-level fourth-quarter team since the Texas fiasco.

The Hogs outscored Alabama 15-3 in the second half Saturday after Alabama held a 57-13 edge after halftime in each of the past four games — two of which came against teams who recently beat Arkansas.

Alabama went from completing 7 of 10 passes in the first half to 3 of 11 in the second.

From one penalty in the opening 30 minutes to four costly flags in the second 30.

The positive was the defensive stop when Arkansas got the ball back down just three with 9:59 left. After getting bodied on the previous two touchdown drives by Arkansas, Alabama’s final defensive snap was a third-down sack of KJ Jefferson by Dallas Turner and Justin Eboigbe. The offense did just enough on its nine-play, 28-yard clock killer to slip out a homecoming winner.

The yeah, buts factor in here, too.

Yeah, good finish, but those three previous offensive three-and-outs that netted 3, -9 and zero yards respectively helped require the late-game survival sequence.

“Told the team it’s great to win,” Saban said. “It’s great to be where we are in the SEC relative to how we’ve progressed. But, there’s a difference in beating the other team and winning the game.”

That’s kinda been the theme of the season.

There were elements of a beating in the wins over Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

Last week you saw traces of the put-away factor in the defensive performance down the stretch of the 26-20 exhale at Texas A&M.

Combine all of that and Saturday’s 24-6 start against Arkansas and you can Frankenstein a 60-minute game.

Even in a college football season when the top teams feel less-than-elite, this won’t cut it.

Not in the long run.

Tennessee and LSU served that hard truth a year ago, but neither will have the homefield edge their respective snake pits supply. They have to come to Bryant-Denny Stadium in two of the next three weeks — a legendary venue but not intimidating enough to deny a 2-5 Arkansas team back into contention Saturday.

Saban thanked fans at the end of his presser for their part in choking off the Hogs when it had the ball down just three. This wasn’t about the 100,000 or so in the Bryant-Denny seating bowl, though.

This continues to be the ultimate work-in-progress team that flashes playoff potential in one breath before choking on the next.

Even crazier, Alabama could salt away the SEC West as early as early November given the unpredictability of the division and league overall this season.

Also, remember last year’s team was a play or two from an imperfect undefeated regular season because it flew too close to the sun twice too many times.

The sequel faces a similar multi-forked road with a better defense and a less consistent but more explosive offense.

Add it all up and this Crimson Tide’s in about the same place as a week ago.

Nothing’s easy.

It usually hurts a little.

But they’re survivors … at least for now.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.