Nick Saban knew the question was coming his way Monday night during College Football Countdown ahead of North Carolina’s opener against TCU.
What happened to Alabama?
Flanked by Pat McAfee and Teddy Bruschi on the ESPN set inside Kenan Stadium, Saban brushed aside any notion of a carryover effect for the Crimson Tide from last season before detailing his biggest issue with Saturday’s loss in Tallahassee for his former program.
“Obviously, for me and for a lot of the Bama fans, the disappointment that Florida State dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” Saban said. “But the good news is every team has the best opportunity to improve going in from Week 1 to Week 2. Really going into the season, you don’t really know what you have for sure as a coach and you’re always very anxious about what might happen in the first game.
“I’m sure they’re all very disappointed, players, coaches alike but they do have a great chance to improve from Week 1 to Week 2. That’s when you normally make the biggest improvement. LSU, Miami and Ohio State all really impressed me, but I think Texas, Notre Dame and Clemson all have a really good chance to have great teams this year too if they make the progress they’re capable of.”
Notice the exclusion there from Saban — no mention of the Crimson Tide in the group he believes will rebound from opening weekend.
Fourteen games into his Alabama tenure, coach Kaleb Deboer already has four losses to unranked competition, equaling the number of times Saban lost to such opponents over 235 contests.
The stunning loss for the Crimson Tide was particularly bad because of how it looked. After an impressive opening possession, Alabama lost its will up front and was bullied off the ball by a stronger, more fierce unit by the Seminoles.
“I choose to believe we got a good football team, but, you know, we can’t play on our heels,” DeBoer said in the aftemath. “We’re not going to be what we think we can be, what we want to be, if that’s the case. And so, again, that falls on everyone. I don’t just put the point the finger at the players. Both sides the ball, you kind of know what you’re going to see going into the game with new coordinators.
“But we got to, you know, we talked in the locker room, there is no excuse about what happened. We stepped on the football field. They stepped on the football field. We got to play ball. We got to play our style of ball.”
Everything Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said after stunning loss to Florida State: ‘There’s no excuse’
Cameron Salerno
What is Alabama’s “style of ball” in the post-Saban era? The Crimson Tide ranked seventh in the SEC last season in total defense during DeBoer’s first campaign, the team’s lowest finish in more than a decade.
They’ve struggled to find an identity offensively since the coaching change and falling to Oklahoma by three touchdowns last November opened a gash that hasn’t yet been stitched.
How Alabama responds to the adverse result at Florida State matters, but we’re not going to know if improvements have been made with Saturday’s home opener against ULM. The test comes the week after against Wisconsin and then in the showdown at Georgia on Sept. 27.
Actually, “showdown” doesn’t feel like the right moniker. That could be more like a “showcase” for Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs if the Crimson Tide’s recent trend of misfortune continues.
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