Alabama has a slim chance to play for a Southeastern Conference Championship, but the College Football Playoff opportunity is gone.
The season has been disappointing and frustrating for the Crimson Tide, but Nick Saban said there is still pride in the organization. Big names in national media are dusting off “the dynasty is dead” narrative and putting it back out there.
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Coach Saban is focused on the team improving, and Tide players want to assure each other there remains a lot to play for. Some may feel that if Alabama is not playing for an SEC Championship or a CFP National Championship, then what is the purpose of competing? Byron Young (defensive end) and Javion Cohen (offensive lineman) spoke to reporters during Monday’s interview.
Both guys are trying to convince younger players to buy all in.
“We still have a lot to play for,” Young said. “We have to play for the name on the back of our jerseys, the ‘A’ on the front, and for everybody that’s beside us. I am going to come in every day and work just like I am going to play for a national championship on Saturday, and that’s what I expect everyone to do.”
People have questioned the mental toughness of this Alabama team. Young said that aspect comes down to each player.
“Every player has to have the ‘want to’ to do things correctly,” he said. “You have to have 100 percent buy-in so when you talk about the mental side of it, every player has to come in and make the decision to do the right things.”
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Young said he has seen some buy-in from younger players, but Alabama needs more going forward.
“You have a lot of people that are questioning what we are playing for,” he said. “They may question why are we doing what we’re doing, but I think we have to get across to some of the guys that may not understand we are playing for the people beside us, the name on the back of our jersey, and the A on the front. We still have a standard that we have to uphold.”
Cohen said it is all about execution for Alabama’s offense going forward.
He said the locker room has been positive since the loss to LSU.
“We still have a season to play for and a standard to uphold,” Cohen said. “We pull from our leaders often to make sure we are on the same page. The season is not over because you took a loss. There are still more games to be played. We are all looking forward to Ole Miss this week.”
Cohen said Alabama’s issue on offense in losses to Tennessee and LSU was ‘not finishing the game.’
The Tide looks to focus and execute well to close out matchups. If LSU falls to Arkansas and Texas A&M, Alabama could reclaim the keys to the SEC West and go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. It has to defeat Mississippi and Auburn and hope for the Tigers to lose two games.
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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.
