Will Anderson says Alabama had anxiety before Tennessee game

It’s not often that Alabama is left shell-shocked. That’s exactly what happened, though, during their loss at Tennessee this weekend. The Tide were in the game until the very end but the way the game played out and what all happened at the end hit Alabama hard. Nick Saban said after the game that it showed a lack of discipline but, for Will Anderson, he said the root of the problem came from even before kickoff.

Anderson spoke about the emotion of the loss during his press conference on Monday. He said that Alabama actually felt anxiety before the game. In the end, he thinks it affected their performance in the hyped-up SEC matchup.

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“I think we probably just had a lot of anxiety. We didn’t have the same intensity that we had a couple weeks ago. We most definitely needed that to carry over to this game. But that intensity was just not where it needed to be,” said Anderson. “Probably just had a little anxiety for a big road game.”

It’s not often you hear something as candid as this in the aftermath of a loss. Still, you can see where Anderson is coming from even though Alabama is thought to be at the head of the college football table. This was the most intense game for Tennessee in years and the media covered it as such. You could hardly blame the Tide, even their stars like Anderson, for feeling the nerves from the moment ahead of their entrance into Neyland Stadium.

Regardless, Alabama will have to pull their emotions back in in order to get their season back on track. This was a difficult road bump to hit, but they’ll have their chances to get on schedule again this weekend against Mississippi State.