Alabama Football: No. 1 reason Crimson Tide loses games
By Ronald Evans
The Alabama Football program has little practice in how to respond after losing games. Alabama Crimson Tide Head Coach, Nick Saban repeats a simple, but important message, telling his players to never waste a failure.
After the most recent loss, Saban was even more specific saying,
"You think about how you feel when you lose. You think about what did you do to contribute to losing. … everybody needs to remember how they feel, and not forget it. When I talk about having respect for winning, that’s what I mean. You want to avoid the feeling you have when you lose."
There is a reason why Saban’s messages are about preparation being the remedy for losing. It is because the Crimson Tide loses so infrequently. In the eight seasons of the CFB Playoff era, the Alabama Football record is 96-9. New players come and go and the memories of losses fade.
Take away the 2019 Playoff beatdown by Clemson and the average deficit in the Tide’s eight other losses is 5.75 points. Other than that one game, when Clemson dominated the Tide, it takes special and unusual circumstances for the Crimson Tide to lose.
Alabama Football Losses in Playoff Era
The reason for losses, most commonly mentioned by Tide fans, is the opponent must have a quarterback that plays an exceptional game. That has often been the case, but there is another reason that has even more impact in Crimson Tide losses. Let’s do a quick review of the nine losses.
- October 2014 – Ole Miss 23 – Alabama 17
After three and a half quarters, the Tide led 17-10. Ole Miss scored 13 points in the final five and a half minutes, to win. Rebels QB, Chad Kelly had a good, but not an exceptional game, throwing for 251 yards and three touchdowns.
The Ole Miss comeback was aided by a Christion Jones kick return fumble. The Ole Miss recovery gave the Rebels a short field for the winning touchdown drive. The Tide still had a chance to win but Blake Sims was intercepted in the end zone.