Goodman: Why is Alabama football suddenly so soft?

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This is an opinion column.

Plenty of questions surround Alabama football after some uncharacteristic lapses in form, but here’s the perplexing riddle at the center of it all.

Why is Alabama football playing so soft?

Conference play begins in full this week in the SEC, and the biggest story in the league is the decline of No.13 Alabama (2-1). I’m not ready to give up on the receding Crimson Tide just yet, though. A strong win against No.15 Ole Miss (3-0) will save Alabama’s national championship hopes and right the season. But what’s wrong with this team?

GOODMAN: Lane Kiffin tastes blood in the Crimson Tide

Pour over all the stats you want. Study the game film. Kvetch about the quarterbacks. Call team meetings. None of that junk matters.

Know why?

It’s because four weeks into the season, Alabama football doesn’t look like it’s up for a fight. The defense backed down against Texas in crunch time and then the offense looked weary and unsure of itself against South Florida.

Saban’s teams used to be feared. Instead of respecting Alabama this week, wily Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has been using Alabama’s problems as a punch line. Giving an opponent so-called bulletin board material is normally a cardinal sin of paranoid coaches. It’s like Kiffin is so cocksure of victory on Saturday that he doesn’t care.

The reason is because Alabama’s performance last week was so shocking. As colleague Michael Casagrande pointed out, Alabama’s offensive line wasn’t up for the task. Know when things are really bad, though? When leaders on the team need to call a players’ only meeting after surviving South Florida.

Does Alabama lack quality players? No, that’s not the case. Despite everything, Alabama opened up this week as an 11-point favorite against Ole Miss. Why? It’s because the sharps in Las Vegas know that Alabama is loaded, and the bookmakers aren’t so easily persuaded by past performances.

Funny thing about Vegas, though. Casinos and sportsbooks aren’t in the business of picking winners. They’re just in the business of separating people from their money.

Remember last season when Saban argued that his team should be in the College Football Playoff because Alabama would be favored against three of the four teams that were selected? Saban obviously isn’t a gambler because if he were, then he would understand the function of betting lines.

What Saban knows without a doubt is that Alabama most certainly should be better than it has been playing over the last two seasons. That’s why Alabama’s current problems might not be so easily correctable.

Toughness wins close games in the fourth quarter. It’s a football cliché because it’s universally true. Alabama even makes a point to emphasize the importance of late-game mettle by calling its offseason workout regimen the “Fourth Quarter Program.”

Any football coach will tell you that the outcomes of seasons are not determined in the fall. I’m not saying Alabama is completely soft. I’m just pointing out that what happens on Saturdays is largely dictated by the months and months of work put in over the winter, spring and summer.

Insightful readers have pointed out to me in emails that Alabama’s steady fall over the last few years has corresponded with the amount of time former Alabama strength coach Scott Cochran has been away from the team. I think there’s something to that theory. Alabama fans know their ball.

Saban won six of his national championships with Cochran in the weightroom. Since Cochran returned to Georgia from a temporary sabbatical, the Bulldogs have won back-to-back titles. Cochran is the special teams coordinator for Kirby Smart, but he’s listed as a support staffer. It’s a curious designation. It means he can be more involved with the team in the offseason than on-field coaches.

When Cochran left Alabama, the team consistently communicated an idea that its former strength coach wasn’t a major part of Alabama’s success. Say what you want about the guy, but I know this much. There’s no way Cochran would have allowed Alabama to lose its edge before playing Texas in the biggest game of the season for both teams.

Alabama led the Longhorns 16-13 going into the fourth quarter. Then what happened? The unthinkable. Texas outscored Alabama 21-0 in the final frame. Alabama is back in Bryant-Denny Stadium for the first time since that pudding-pop performance, and more than likely it’s going to come down to the end again.

Football is a game of brutality, and even the most talented team can lose a game if it lacks toughness. In this complex dance of strength, Alabama is simply getting beat down.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama”, a book about togetherness, wild times and rum. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.