Alabama Football: What we don’t know and need to know

After the 34-24 loss to Texas, there is much left to know about this Alabama football team. First, as well as Texas played, we don’t yet know if the Longhorns are a great team. We also don’t know how bad the Crimson Tide is. Most importantly, we don’t know how good Alabama can become.

The MTSU (practice) game does not count with the Blue Raiders not being a worthwhile measurement. We are left with only what happened against Texas.

The stats from Saturday night are helpful to consider what might come next for the Crimson Tide. What needed to happen against a good football team did not come close to happening.

Alabama Football vs. Texas Details

• Like last year’s game, Alabama committed 10 penalties
• Whether it was because Alabama didn’t stick with it or because the Texas front seven dominated, the Crimson Tide’s rushing attack fizzled. Take away Jalen Milroe’s 64 rushing yards on 10 carries and the Crimson Tide running backs, from a combined 20 carries averaged less than 3.1 yards.
• Jalen Milroe was a respectable 14-for-27 for 255 yards and two touchdowns. However, his two interceptions were major failures.
• According to the stat book, the Longhorns had four quarterback hurries and five sacks. Alabama had zero sacks and officially three hurries, but it felt like the Tide also whiffed on hurries.
• Freshmen Kadyn Proctor and Caleb Downs made glaring mistakes.
• There is no official stat for bad snaps but Seth McLaughlin must have had four or five snapping miscues.
• Both teams had explosive plays, but Texas had more.
• Bright spots for Alabama were Will Reichard’s field goals and James Burnap’s punting.
• Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, playing against little pressure, completed 63% of his passes, for three touchdowns and no interceptions. Ewers had no problem connecting on long throws.

What does Alabama do next at quarterback will be foremost on the minds of most Crimson Tide fans. The question must be asked by fans, coaches, and Alabama football players. No prediction is offered here. Instead, I’ll add a troubling concern. Given how the rest of the Alabama football team played, could any of the Crimson Tide’s five scholarship quarterbacks have been successful? I have no answer.

Note: Stats from statbroadcast.com and rolltide.com

Many Alabama football fans believed going into the season that Alabama could not frequently win shootout games. Also, many of us, expecting the defense to be much improved, predicted the Tide would not have to win any shootouts. Against Texas, the Crimson Tide defense was not much improved. That might be more troubling than the quarterback situation.