No. 10 Alabama looks to bounce back with upcoming game against USF

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) - Alabama head football coach Nick Saban took the podium early Monday afternoon at the Naylor Stone Media Room for media availability and let it be known that it was no secret that the Crimson Tide failed to execute against (now) No. 4 Texas.

The Crimson Tide have had one loss and won the national title twice in the Nick Saban era to which Saban said “the future is now.” Alabama was flagged 15 times in the 34-24 loss to the Longhorns Saturday night at Bryant Denny Stadium. The Tide were deemed the most penalized team in the country just a season ago and it proved to be costly in this past weekend’s primetime game.

Quarterback Jalen Milroe also experienced a few miscues, throwing two interceptions that resulted in points for the opposing team. It was a lot of hit and miss and not enough consistency to overcome the Longhorns’ effort. But the record Saban has coming off a loss is historically pretty good. In fact, Saban hasn’t lost consecutive regular-season games since his inaugural season in 2007.

“I would be shocked if these guys don’t come in here today with the attitude that we’re going to go out there and improve and get better, and we got to do it now -- that’s the main thing,” Saban said.

Saban and the Crimson Tide travel to Tampa to face USF for their first road game of the season. It’s part of an interesting 2-for-1 series where the Tide play the 2023 game in Tampa and the 2024 and 2026 games in Tuscaloosa.

It’s a perfect time to right the wrongs and fix mistakes before Ole Miss comes to town the following weekend and start things off with conference play.

“We get compared to a lot of the older Bama teams and it’s just time has passed,” Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker said. “Now, me saying that, we are still playing to the Bama standard, we still want to play the same way that those teams played, but it’s just a different generation of guys, a different group of guys. There’s different things we have to deal with as college athletes today, but regardless of that, we’re still playing to the Bama standard.”

Alabama kicks off in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium Saturday against USF at 2:30 p.m.

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