Alabama Football ready for another road test

Over the past two seasons, road woes have plagued the Alabama Football program.

In 2021, the Crimson Tide notably struggled in three road games. It beat a subpar Florida team by two in Gainesville, then lost a nailbiter to Texas A&M in College Station.

To close the regular season, Bama needed four overtimes to escape a 6-win Auburn team in the Iron Bowl and keep its playoff hopes alive. Though the instant classic ended in a Tide victory, it’s not exactly a game that Bama fans want to be thinking about this week.

Last year was much of the same story. Bama needed a late Will Reichard field goal to beat Texas by one in Austin. Against Arkansas, the Tide sandwiched two dominant quarters of football around an epic collapse. It ultimately cemented a 23-point win, but it showed vulnerabilities and lost quarterback Bryce Young to injury in the process.

The 2022 Crimson Tide would go on to lose narrow finishes at Tennessee and at LSU. The “road woes” have been a major storyline throughout these past two years, but Bama has put an emphasis on changing that.

Has this 2023 Alabama Football team turned the page on its road issues? It’s tough to say, as Bama has not had a lot of road opportunities over the latter half of the season.

Of course, the Tide played an ugly game down in Tampa in September, but it played without its starting quarterback and lacked offensive continuity. It blew out Mississippi State in Starkville, but that is one place that Alabama has largely been immune to struggling, with the exception of the 2017 game.

Bama looked shaky in the first half against Texas A&M, but it appeared to flip a switch at halftime of that game. It outscored A&M 16-3 in the second half, and then ran over Kentucky 49-21 at Kroger Field in its next road game.

Alabama Football looks to close out its road schedule in Auburn this week, and hopes to continue the momentum it has built as this 2023 season has progressed.