Earlier in the season, Nick Saban said his Alabama Football might be headed for a “reckoning.” He was right. Texas A&M gave the Crimson Tide one Saturday night. Alabama Football made enough positive plays against the Aggies to win the game – almost. It also made enough mistakes to lose two football games.
After the game, the Alabama Crimson Tide head coach was clear. He said,
"We need to do things better to get ready to play better, especially when we’re playing on the road, especially when we’re playing against really good teams. I don’t know of anybody in our division that’s not a really good team. If we don’t play really well, we’ll struggle against anybody we play against."
Considering what was learned about the Crimson Tide last night, Saban’s comments might not be an exaggeration. Struggling against LSU and Tennessee seems implausible, but maybe not. Mississippi State, Arkansas and Auburn might offer stronger challenges, giving what Saban said merit.
As Saban said in the A&M post-game – it is not about how the opponent plays, but how the Crimson Tide plays. More accurately, he said it is about how the Tide prepares to play.
Lessons From Alabama Football ‘Reckoning’
- Even with the early game loss of Malachi Moore to targeting, the Tide’s communication issues in the secondary are a serious weakness. Mike Leach will look to take advantage on Saturday with probably 50 passes.
- Injuries are an issue, with the loss of Chris Allen, Drew Sanders and Jase McClellan. The Tide’s linebackers were too often ineffective. A&M found a way to neutralize Will Anderson Jr. Henry To’o To’o did not have a solid game and Christian Harris was nearly a non-factor. The three Tide linebackers had a total of six solo tackles, with no tackles for a loss and no sacks. To’o To’o did have a pass breakup.
- Five Crimson Tide receivers dropped catchable passes: Jaleel Billingsley; John Metchie; Slade Bolden; Jameson Williams and Cameron Latu. Some of the passes were slightly off target, especially the one to Bolden, so some of the fault goes to Bryce Young. But the clearly dropped passes were alone, frequent enough to cause the Tide loss.
- A big part of the problem for Bryce was pass protection. The Aggies got credit for five quarterback hurries and made four sacks.
- Alabama football fans rightfully question some of Bill O’Brien’s red zone play-calling. Many fans also believe the Tide’s ineffective linebacker play goes back to Pete Golding.
As Nick Saban said Saturday night,
"There’s a lot of things we need to fix."
Alabama football fans will now worry about the CFB Playoff. The college football world suddenly no longer believes the Crimson Tide to be a Playoff team. In reality, Alabama Football controls its own destiny.
Playoff worries do not matter now. As Nick Saban would say, fix the Tide’s flaws and winning results will follow.
Nick Saban was not surprised the Aggies played their best game of the season. No one else should have been either.