The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Texas Edition

Ryan’s Reaction 

Every Monday, Nick Saban spends part of the afternoon showing his players the good plays, bad plays, and ugly plays from the previous Saturday. 

The good section highlights what the team did well in the game; individual plays, series of plays, moments of the game that went good for the Crimson Tide. 

The bad section focuses on plays that were run incorrectly, maybe a play designed to pick up more yardage but failed. It might include simple mistakes, a turnover or just a simple missed block or tackle. 

The ugly section could also be called the disaster section, plays that went completely wrong or injuries. Ugly plays are learning moments for the team. Part of discussing the bad and ugly plays includes thinking through what they could have done differently. 

Alabama vs. Texas

Get our free mobile app

Good 

The atmosphere was incredible tonight at Bryant-Denny Stadium, especially when you considered there were limited things to cheer for most of the game. Alabama showed some fight and never gave up. I guess that is something you should be proud of. I am struggling trying to identify some good things from this game. 

Bad 

Alabama could not get any pressure on Quinn Ewers, the Crimson Tide failed to record a sack. I also think the jury is still out on Texas’ offensive line, which struggled last week against Rice. Either way, Texas shut Alabama’s pressure down and made many players look average. Pressure does not have to come just from the edge rushers, but Alabama could not get any pressure from the middle, the outside, or even trying to use blitzing to get to Ewers. 

The Crimson Tide came into the season with high expectations for the offensive line, that line as a group played poorly vs. Texas. The Longhorns were able to apply pressure to Milroe and Alabama’s offense with rushing three and four players throughout much of the night. 

Once again, Alabama looks like a team searching for its identity. To be honest, this question needs to be partially answered before you can address some of the major concerns facing this team: Who do they want to be? Rushing team? Passing Team? Balanced Team? At this point, I am not sure I can even take an educated guess. This could be the biggest frustration with the loss against Texas.  I am just not sure who they want to be on offense. 

Wide receivers have moments where you think they are taking some steps in the right direction and then allow the below average play to show up frequently. Texas defensive backs won that position battle, and they won it in a convincing way. Alabama made a few plays in the passing game, but those are not consistent enough to make teams respect the passing attack. Who is the wide receiver who requires special attention? My answer is that Alabama does not have a receiver who demands this type of respect. 

Simply put, Jalen Milroe has got to play better. He said something similar in the post-game media availability. I also did not think the offense game plan tonight highlighted some of his strongest attributes. I respect Milroe as a person and player, his post-game media availability last Saturday following Alabama’s win over MTSU and after the loss to Texas was some of the most impressive I have heard from such a young player. Unfortunately, he can’t trade those in for completions or touchdowns. I do think that is a starting point and I can understand why his teammates have chosen him as leader. 

Ugly 

The dynasty could be slipping away right here in front of our eyes. All dynasties end. I was hopeful that I could see Saban possibly reach double digit national championships as a head coach. However after the last two years, I am wondering if he can win one more in the current college football model. I don’t see the attention to detail that this program has had for many years. I do not see the player accountability that I have seen in previous years. I hope I am wrong and this is just a bad observation on my part, but I see some issues that need to be fixed ASAP. And here is the problem, I am not sure what you need to fix first. There are some issues with this team that need attention. I try to tell my listening audience often that Crimson Tide fans are playing with house money when it comes to national championships. College fans at other schools can only dream about what Alabama has been able to accomplish over the years. I am not saying it is over, but for this run to continue it will take overtime hours to get these problems fixed before the SEC portion of the schedule starts.

Coming up Monday on The Game with Ryan Fowler on Tide 100.9, we will discuss the good, bad, and ugly.  You will also have a chance to win prizes from Daniel Moore Art, starting at 2pm on Tide 100.9 and on the free Tide 100.9 app.  We will have plenty to discuss on Monday afternoon.