Arkansas @ Alabama preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 8, 2016 ) Alabama 49, Arkansas 30

Top-ranked Alabama strives to continue its march toward a possible College Football Playoff berth when it hosts Arkansas on Saturday in SEC play. The Crimson Tide have won their first six games by an average of 32.7 points and are looking to knock off the Razorbacks for the 11th consecutive time.

Arkansas' chances of springing an upset aren't high but they will drop to nearly impossible if senior quarterback Austin Allen doesn't play or is hampered by a shoulder injury suffered in last Saturday's 48-22 loss to South Carolina. The Razorbacks plan to firm up Allen's status late in the week but the signal-caller said he underwent an MRI exam and "everything came back looking good." Allen passed for 400 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-30 loss to the Crimson Tide last season when he also was picked off three times by Alabama junior strong safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who returned one for a touchdown. Fitzpatrick was named defensive player of the week by two entities for his performance in last Saturday's 27-19 win over Texas A&M as he had an interception, forced a fumble and recorded three tackles for loss.

TV: 7:15 p.m. ET, ESPN. LINE: Alabama -30

ABOUT ARKANSAS (2-3, 0-2 SEC): Allen has passed for 850 yards and eight touchdowns against four interceptions, but he had just 84 yards in 24 pass attempts against South Carolina before suffering the injury and leaving in favor of 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman Cole Kelley (140 yards, one touchdown, one interception versus the Gamecocks). Junior wideout Jonathan Nance is having a big season with 23 receptions for 374 yards and five touchdowns. The defense is struggling by allowing an average of 40.7 points over the past three games but the Razorbacks typically receive solid efforts from sophomore middle linebacker De'Jon Harris (team-best 43 tackles) and junior weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw (39 stops).

ABOUT ALABAMA (6-0, 3-0): Junior running back Damien Harris (500 rushing yards, seven scores) rushed for 124 yards in the victory over Texas A&M and said he felt the narrow eight-point margin was something the team needed after winning its previous two games by a combined 125-3. "It was great for our team, because it showed not all games are going to go the way they had in the last couple of games, when we had some big-time wins," Harris told reporters. "We know this is a long season filled with great opponents. We're going to play a lot of good teams in a lot of hostile environments, and things aren't always going to go our way." The defense allows an average of 10.3 points per game and senior cornerback Levi Wallace (team-best three interceptions) and junior free safety Ronnie Harrison (team-high 31 tackles) join Fitzpatrick (28 stops) as standouts in the secondary.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Alabama has beaten the Razorbacks by an average of 23.1 points in the 10 meetings under coach Nick Saban.

2. Crimson Tide sophomore QB Jalen Hurts was 13-of-17 passing for 253 yards and accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing) in last season's win over Arkansas.

3. The Razorbacks are just 10-24 in SEC play during Bret Bielema's five seasons as coach.

PREDICTION: Alabama 58, Arkansas 7