Tennessee’s offense executed perfectly and its defense frustrated Alabama at times in a 52-49 victory.
Self-inflicted mistakes hurt the Crimson Tide, but did something put it behind the 8-ball before kickoff? Nick Saban and Alabama’s outside linebacker Will Anderson spoke about anxiety on Monday. During his radio show last week, Saban said the players had ‘energy’ and ‘enthusiasm’ in practice. He said the team was secure in the game plan and prepared to win.
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Alabama had a good week of practice, but something felt off as the team was not ready for the challenge.
Previous teams in the Saban era wanted all the smoke. We remember Damion Square from the highlight video getting the mindset of each player on the Alabama standard. We remember Alabama playing Georgia in 2015 and how the Tide players barked at the Bulldogs players. They wanted the challenge, smoke, and to take Georgia’s heart out of its chest. Alabama is normally able to back up their talk with action, but they have never walked away from a challenge.
Coach Saban said he sensed something was wrong with the team when it came out of the tunnel.
“You want to have great energy, but you also want to be loose,” he said. “I thought we were tight, especially starting the game. Our players always chant coming out of the locker room. They were not chanting and I’m like ‘why aren’t you guys chanting? What’s up with that?’ It is not that they don’t want to do it. It is not that they are not trying. I think we have to get our focus in the right place and our psychological disposition in the right place. It is fun to compete when you play the next play. It is no different than playing a pick-up basketball game. That is how you compete. Sometimes he wins, sometimes you win. That’s how you have fun. You cannot worry about the outcome. You can’t sit there all tensed up because you fear the guy is going to shoot a three on you. You have to play the play, and then play the next play if he makes a three. It is so much fun that way. Not looking at the scoreboard, not worrying about results, not being fearful of what’s going to happen if something bad happens or we lose a game, just go play. Compete, and when the game is over if we do that well as a collective group, then we can live with the results.”
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Saban said it is his job to help these players get to that point. Alabama has an opportunity to run the table to an SEC Championship and College Football Playoff, but it has to regain its swagger in some areas.
The Tide looks to rectify mistakes against Mississippi State.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
