The 2025 season hasn't gotten off to the start that Alabama fans, players, or the coaching staff wanted. The loss to Florida State to open the season was eye-opening, immediately showing Kalen DeBoer that the Crimson Tide wasn't where they needed to be.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, the loss sucked. But it could be the moment that got this team's attention enough to turn things around quickly. Getting your flaws exposed immediately allows you to fix things quickly. You can learn more from a failure than you can from a victory.
Alabama learned a lot about itself in the aftermath of the loss in Tallahassee in Week 1. Not all of it was pretty.
But the Crimson Tide hasn't folded. They rallied together for a thorough dispatching of UL Monroe last week in the home opener. Yes, ULM is a Sun Belt opponent that Alabama should have beaten easily. But it's never about the results in Tuscaloosa. It's about the process, as Nick Saban always said. And Alabama's process was terrific. They played hard. They played together. The sideline was alive.
Something seemed to click last week. We'll find out how much on Saturday when Wisconsin comes to town.
“We made a step or two in the right direction," DeBoer said during his weekly radio show. "The outcome is one thing, but it’s just how you got there.
"We got to keep making those steps. We’re far from where we need to be. We know that, and there’s going to be a big test here this weekend.”
For Alabama football, the process has to be more important than the results
It's cliché, but it's true: the process matters more than the results. If you are results-driven, then things like what happened to Alabama in Tallahassee will happen. If you are process-driven, you get what we saw from the Crimson Tide last weekend.
Alabama has to fall in love with the process. The film study. The lifting. The walk-throughs. All the mundane things.
This Alabama team is supremely talented. They will be the more talented team - by far - when they face off with Wisconsin this weekend at Bryant-Denny Stadium. That's not hubris; it's simply a fact. Alabama should win this game by multiple scores.
If it turns into a dogfight, or an outright loss, then this team has more problems than anyone could have possibly believed.
For now, I choose to believe Alabama turned the corner last week against UL Monroe, and we will continue to see a different team than whatever it was that showed up against Florida State.
But talk is cheap. DeBoer and the Crimson Tide have to walk it like they've talked it.