Alabama was given an early midterm test in Week 2.
Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide didn’t pass, however, as they fell 34-24 to then-No. 11 Texas last Saturday.
So, Alabama is tasked with figuring out what it does next. And that could come in the form of some practice quizzes, or the next challenge.
“I don’t think it’s any huge secret or anything that we did not execute on a consistent enough basis in this last game,” Saban said. “The focus is 100% on how we get it turned around. The future is now so how do we get our players to — we got to do a better job as coaches to help them be able to play better more consistently in the game, put them in a position where they have the best chance to be successful. But I think all these things are fixable, very fixable. I believe in our players.”
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe didn’t play his best against the Longhorns, though he threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 52% of his passes and was intercepted twice.
Saban said one of the keys for a quarterback is to “stay positive” and believe in oneself, and he thinks confidence is important at any position.
“The one thing you don’t want to do is get frustrated as a player. You don’t want one play to affect the next play,” Saban said. “I think the players stayed positive. They tried to keep the energy level up. They didn’t get frustrated in the game, and Jalen didn’t either. But still, you got to trust and have faith confidence and doing what you coach to do on a consistent basis. And that’s going to help you be successful.”
The same goes for the entire Crimson Tide roster, Saban thinks. He said the main thing is “to go out there and try to improve and get better,” and in order to bounce back from snapping their previous 21-game home winning streak, they must go on the road to South Florida with a positive mindset.
“I would be shocked if this team does not respond in a really positive way to trying to get better, to try to do the things they need to do to get fixed,” Saban said. “But we have to have better execution. We got to do simple things better. Whether it’s pass protection, blocking, controlling the line of scrimmage, not giving up big plays on defense, whatever. Those are the things that are going to change.”
Saturday will mark Alabama’s first road game against a non-Power 5 program since 2003. The Crimson Tide will have a chance to bounce back from allowing Texas its first road win against an AP top-3 team.
Saban recalled the scheduling of Saturday’s game against USF. He said programs must be able to “negotiate your way through to see who you can play and who you can’t play” and that this game was scheduled before conference realignment, which mostly will change beginning in 2024.
South Florida currently averaged 31 points per game alongside 441 yards an outing, which ranks No. 48 in the NCAA.
Saban said Alabama’s goal was to have “two quality opponents” aside from conference games, and in order to turn around from last week’s loss, it must do so on the road.
“I think the goal is to when you’re trying to play home and home games, the goal was to try to enhance the quality of opponents that you have,” Saban said. “Look, it’s not easy to find people that will play you and sometimes you have to give and take a little bit to try to get those games to where we have a quality home schedule. And we are playing two teams that are Division I caliber, decent teams to play. So scheduling is very difficult, and we’ve tried to get it to where we’re playing two teams. And I think in most years we are moving forward.”
