Bielema Bombast Tweaks Tide's Motivation Meter

Normally, when you're the new kid on the block, you try not to make any waves and you try to make new friends.

Try telling that to new Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema.

Bielema, who used to coach at Wisconsin, didn't do himself any favors when he starting throwing rocks in the direction of Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

Addressing a Razorbacks fan club, Bielema declared that he didn't come to Fayetteville just to play Alabama, he came there to beat them. 

OK, that's understandable. It's a competitor's mindset.

But Bielema didn't stop there. The SEC newbie escalated his comments with a soundbite basically claiming he was a much better coach then Saban because he had a better Big Ten record.

Whoaaaaaa! Tap the brakes, Coach Bielema. First of all, you were in the Big Ten longer than Saban, so the mathematical possibility you'd have a better record against the likes of Indiana and Northwestern was much more in your favor.

Of course, Bielema is simply taking a page from the WWE Smackdown 101 overhype syllabus. He well knows there's no comparison between his overall record and Saban's. Like Vanderbilt's James Franklin before him, Bielema is doing his bit to stir up a fan base shellshocked by the events of 2012 that transformed a potential dream season into a tabloid fiasco.

What better way to do that then by firing up your fan base by trying to say you had a better conference record then best head coach in college football? Franklin did the same thing, but the difference is he knew he didn't have to play 'Bama this year unless they meet in Atlanta.

Bielema must have forgotten that Arkansas not only has to play Alabama every year, and this year, the Razorbacks must venture into Tuscaloosa to face the Tide. If history is any indication, Bielema's introduction to the SEC won't be a pleasant one.

It might be a decent idea to circle that date, take a well-read Alabama team, and lay the points.