These are the tough weeks for Alabama -- in a manner of speaking.

Coming off a thrilling 48-43 comeback win over Ole Miss, Alabama's players must refocus and avoid any type of letdown on Saturday when the Crimson Tide host Kent State at noon ET at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

It's human nature to let off the gas against lesser opponents, but Alabama coach Nick Saban doesn't want to allow that to happen.

Saban doesn't want top-ranked Alabama to fall victim to some of the pitfalls that trap other ranked teams in these types of games.

"The Mid-American Conference is sort of known for being able to come up against really good teams and come up with some wins," Saban said, citing arguably last week's biggest upset and Central Michigan's upset of Oklahoma State the week before as examples of what can happen to teams when they don't focus.

"Obviously, North Dakota State beating Iowa, which is a ranked team, this happens every week, and it happens because the teams that they are playing don't have the proper respect.

"They don't prepare correctly. They don't play very well and the other team has players, too, that are very capable. They need to be respected, and we need to focus on what we need to do to get better as a team and play to our standard, and that certainly is going to be the message for this week."

Kent State comes into the game off a 27-7 victory over Monmouth, its first win after losses to Penn State 33-13 and North Carolina A&T 39-36 in four overtimes the first two weeks.

The Flashes have struggled on offense, producing only 897 yards rushing and passing in their three outings for an average of less than 300 yards a game. But they also have held their opponents to an average of just 320 yards a game in total offense.

Coach Paul Haynes says his players won't be intimidated as they prepare to meet the nation's No. 1 team.

"We are just going to work on our execution," said Haynes. "We've been to places like Ohio State and LSU, so we'll be all right."

What Saban wants to avoid is a duplication of the effort of both his players and coaching staff in the second week of the season when the Tide beat Western Kentucky 38-10. Saban went as far as to say that he was embarrassed at how the team played in that game.

Alabama's leadership group is being more vocal this week in hopes of keeping everyone locked in and focused as to not disappoint Saban and the fans.

"There are no downshifts," Crimson Tide linebacker Ryan Anderson said. "We're going to practice this week like we're preparing for the national championship. That's the only way we're going to get better as a team.

"You can't downshift and then pick it back up. You just can't do it."

Saban expressed some unhappiness with the way the Tide finished its win over Ole Miss. After outscoring the Rebels 45-6 over one stretch to take a 48-30 lead, the Tide gave up two quick scores to let the Rebels back within five points.

"All these things catch up with you if you don't fix them, correct them, focus on every play and get things executed properly, that leads to a lot of problems," he said. "You don't ever want to beat yourself, and when you do things like that you give yourself an opportunity to beat yourself.

"It's one thing to get beat physically -- you can't cover them, you can't block them upfront -- that's different and that may happen someday. All this other stuff, you beat yourself, and that is what we have to get fixed."

The game against Kent State does have one distinctive aspect to it. Kent State is Saban's alma mater, and the coach recalled a conversation with his wife about that angle.

"I was telling Terry this morning, I watch these games and these tapes and look out on the field and I played there," Saban said. "And I can't remember too many games that I played in there.

"I guess I'm getting old."

Saban is 2-0 against his alma mater. In addition to the 48-7 win over Kent State his Alabama team recorded in 2011, Saban also owns a 28-14 win over Kent State in 1990 when he was at Toledo.