Standard still different for Alabama Football post-Nick Saban

Coming off of a highly mercurial performance against South Florida, Alabama Football was among the most popular media talking points. The Crimson Tide was very underwhelming for the majority of the game before running the visiting Bulls straight out of Bryant-Denny Stadium. 

The offense in particular played poorly through the first three quarters, mustering just 14 points. However, it took just 10 minutes of game time for the Bama offense to reel off four straight touchdowns, outscoring USF 28-3 in the fourth quarter. 

The national reaction to this game showed that Alabama Football still operates on a different standard from the rest of the sport. Sure, Bama didn’t look as good as most of us expected against USF, but the game is 60 minutes long. The Tide played till the final whistle and ultimately won by 26 points. 

Still, Alabama was lumped in with other “disappointing” teams by popular national media pundits. These included Notre Dame, who lost at home to Northern Illinois as a top-5 team, as well as Oklahoma, Oregon and Penn State, who quite literally survived against Houston, Boise State, and Bowling Green respectively. 

If you missed those other games, Oregon won 37-34 on a field goal as time expired. Oklahoma was outscored 6-2 in the second half by Houston and used a safety to help it hold on for a 16-12 win. Penn State did not take its first lead over Bowling Green until midway through the third quarter and ultimately won 34-27. All three escapees were outgained in total yardage by their opponents.

According to some, Alabama was in that same boat.

CBS Sports’ Sheyan Jeyarajah wrote that “Alabama and Penn State were shockingly pushed to the wire.” ESPN dropped the Tide from no. 4 to no. 7 in its weekly Power Rankings. Several other talking heads and Youtubers also grouped Alabama in with the most disappointing performers of week 2. Need I say again that the Tide won by 26 points?

If nothing else, this is evidence that the college football world continues to hold Alabama to a different standard, even in the post-Nick Saban era. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s fascinating to observe. 

During his time at Alabama, Coach Saban built what became a near-impossible standard of excellence, and yet he continued to meet that standard year after year. Now that Saban has hung it up, Alabama Football will be challenged to continually play at that championship level.

In a refreshing twist, Paul Finebaum played contrarian in the midst of the Alabama overreaction. Finebaum offered a rare sensical take about Bama's performance, acknowledging that it was below par but taking encouragement from its fourth quarter showing. 

Just like last year, the Tide will have plenty of opportunities to prove it is still an elite team and program, starting with a big non-conference showdown at Wisconsin this weekend.

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