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Alabama Football: Not the time for a slow start

By Zach Breathwaite

Sep 9, 2023; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban cheers on his players before their game against the Texas Longhorns at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 9, 2023; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban cheers on his players before their game against the Texas Longhorns at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /
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So far in the 2023 season, the Alabama Football team has been notorious for its slow starts to games.

Several games this year have seen the Crimson Tide go into the locker room at halftime with the outcome in question, only to dominate the second half. Here are the most glaring examples of this discrepancy:

South Florida: Tied 3-3, won 17-3 (14-0 second half)

Ole Miss: Trailed 7-6, won 24-10 (18-3 second half)

Texas A&M: Trailed 17-10, won 26-20 (16-3 second half)

Tennessee: Trailed 20-7, won 34-20 (27-0 second half)

This can certainly be framed in a positive light, and many have chosen to view it that way. Alabama Football has been a buzzsaw in the second half of several games, and has been billed as a second half team.

The big, ugly elephant in the room, however, is that the Tide has been downright anemic in the first half, particularly on offense.

Even in games that saw the Tide gain a significant halftime advantage, the score was somewhat deceiving. In wins over Mississippi State (led 31-10 at half) and Arkansas (led 21-6), Bama got out to very sluggish starts offensively.

It opened both games with two straight punts before hitting a big play to get on the scoreboard and find its rhythm. First quarter three-and-outs have become almost routine for this team.

The script is painfully predictable: Short run, short run, incompletion. Short run, incompletion, sack. Short run, short run, throwaway. Throw in a false start or an errant snap to mix things up and you’ve pretty much got Bama’s offensive formula in the first quarter of games thus far.

Excluding the season opener against Middle Tennessee State, Alabama Football has played seven games. In the first quarter of those games, it has scored a grand total of 20 offensive points.

Its first two possessions of each of these seven games have yielded the following results: 10 punts, an interception, and three field goals.

Playing against an LSU team that will look for momentum-building plays early to take the Bryant-Denny crowd out of the game, Bama can’t afford another slow start this week.

It allowed Tennessee to make such plays in its most recent game. The Vols connected on a long touchdown pass, forced two punts, and recovered a Jalen Milroe fumble all in the first quarter. This disastrous start quickly silenced the sellout crowd as Tennessee took a 13-0 lead.

Give Alabama credit; it has been billed all season as a team not built to play from behind. Against the Vols, it did just that, turning a 13-point deficit into a 14-point win. Still, it may not be a wise strategy to fall behind against LSU.

Next. Reaction to initial playoff rankings. dark

Can Alabama Football break one of its most reliable trends of the season against LSU? It may have to in order to get the win.

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