No. 3 Alabama Fails to Correct Painful Mistakes from Last Season in Loss to No. 11 Texas

The Crimson Tide vowed to fix the problems that ruined the program's national championship hopes a season ago. Not yet it hasn't.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — 2022-23 was a frustrating season for Alabama fans.

The Crimson Tide returned Heisman winner Bryce Young and defensive freak Will Anderson Jr. However, two road losses to Tennessee and LSU derailed its chances at a title.

There were several lingering issues for Alabama last year — penalties, lack of a pass rush, poor secondary and offensive line play, missed tackles and an inability to run the football — and more penalties.

All offseason, the Crimson Tide has talked about correcting those mistakes. Alabama even brought in two new coordinators to help make a change. And after last week's 56-7 win over Middle Tennessee, there was hope that a real change was occurring.

Saturday night was an opportunity for the Crimson Tide to show it was ready to be a national contender again. Instead, it was a reminder of the severe issues that plagued the team a season ago. And now, Alabama will have to be perfect from now until January if it wants to bring home the program's 19th national championship.

"This was a test for us," head coach Nick Saban said. "I told the players early in the week last week that this was going to be a test — that we were going to play a really good team and that we would actually find out where we were as a team. [...] And we obviously didn't do very well. But it's the midterm, not the final."

"If we can learn from some of the mistakes that we made, coaches and players alike, we can all get better and have a lot better opportunity I think to be successful in the future. Everybody's got basically two choices — throw in the towel and quit and be mediocre or you can fight and grind and do the hard things that you need to do to be successful. You don't want to waste failing — we certainly don't want to waste this failing. So, we're all going to be committed to trying to do things better."

Last week, the Crimson Tide looked much improved on the defensive end. The Blue Raiders brought in a high-flying, air raid offense and were limited to seven points and just 211 yards of total offense. Alabama had zero turnovers and just two penalties. The Crimson Tide moved the ball on the ground and in the air. Jalen Milroe was sacked twice.

Fast forward one week and exchange Middle Tennessee for No. 11 Texas — and everything was different, for worse. The Crimson Tide allowed 34 points and 454 yards of offense. Two turnovers. 10 penalties. Alabama averaged just over three yards per carry on offense. Milroe was sacked five times. The Crimson Tide didn't sack Quinn Ewers once — never really getting close, either.

The bad news for Alabama? It doesn't play in the C-USA.

"It all starts with me," Saban said. "I obviously let our team down in terms of how we were able to execute and play. We had like 10 penalties, two of which negated touchdowns. They got 10 points off of turnovers. And we gave up way too many explosive plays on defense. We have to correct all of those things if we're going to be able to play and have the team we're capable of having."

For Jalen Milroe, avoiding turnovers was one of his biggest points of emphasis going into this season. Saturday night saw Milroe once again be reckless with the football in his hands. He threw two interceptions that devastated the Crimson Tide's chances — and the number probably should've been three or four.

"It's just going to take all of us," Milroe said. "I gotta do better and improve, I gotta protect the ball, I gotta continue to lead. And just learn. Learn from it, grow from it and just understand that there's always more work to do."

"[There's] two things we can do — we can linger on this loss or we can try to improve and get better as a football team. And I'd bet on my guys any day of the week. We're gonna get better from this, we're gonna learn from it, we're gonna grow. What you all saw tonight, that's OK, we're gonna improve. We're gonna get better."

Alabama isn't necessarily dead. In 2015, the Crimson Tide lost its third game of the season to Ole Miss in a similar fashion — and then ran the table and won the title. However, that team had a player named Derrick Henry that was able to carry the team. Is there a player like that on the 2023-24 team?

Additionally, last year's team had special players — two of the top three picks in the 2023 NFL Draft. And that team still lost two games — and nearly lost more than that.

Alabama's program under Saban has been built on not beating itself — it lets the opponent do that on most occasions. Like a lot of things in college football these days, that's changing.

Saban is the greatest college football coach ever. If there's anyone that can get things fixed — it's him. If not, Alabama will be almost certainly out of the College Football Playoff for the second consecutive season.

See Also:

Texas the Better Team in Week 2, But Can It Be Alabama in the End?

Nick Saban Considered Replacing Jalen Milroe vs. No. 11 Texas, Opted Against After Touchdown Drive