How will Alabama fight complacency? Treat each week like an elimination game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama is coming off back-to-back revenge wins over two of its biggest rivals and has a chance to clinch the SEC West with a victory over Kentucky on Saturday.

The Week 11 matchup with the Wildcats doesn’t have as much luster as the last two games for the Crimson Tide, but due to what it has accomplished of late, now isn’t the time to let up.

“This team has created an opportunity for itself, so everybody has to make a choice,” head coach Nick Saban said Monday. “What do you want to do? To prepare and continue to play at the level we’re capable of playing at and continuing to improve. I don’t think this is a time for anybody to be complacent. 

“I know that even Sunday morning when I got up, I was like, ‘Wow, I’m tired.’ But you’ve got to go, man. You’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to keep grinding. You’ve got to keep focused on what you have to do to get better and prepare for the next game.

Alabama (8-1, 6-0 SEC) has three games left on its regular-season schedule, and none will be against ranked opponents. They also won’t be games that the Tide can just show up and win as its final two SEC matchups are on the road at Kentucky (6-3, 3-3) and Auburn (5-4, 4-4).

It would be easy for Alabama, ranked No. 8 in the first College Football Playoff Top 25, to exhale after its recent stretch. But UA’s leaders have a message on fighting against complacency.

“The message to our team just needs to be that this is a big game,” defensive back Malachi Moore said. “It is a big game. It’s an SEC game. Every game in the SEC is going to be a tough, difficult task, especially when you go on the road. This isn’t a place I’ve played before, so I really don’t know what to expect as (far as) the atmosphere. 

“We just have to tell the team that this is another big game, and just because it’s the next game on the schedule, we’ve got to focus on going 1-0 this week.”

Added quarterback Jalen Milroe, “I think we look at everything as an opportunity. Coach Saban preaches on doing our job, and I think that’s very key. Approaching any game is just doing our job, and that’s what leads to success throughout the season. 

“That comes with our preparation throughout the week, acknowledging where our short-term goals are and embracing the challenge because it’s a challenge playing football. You got to love the grind, you got to love football, and that’s what we have in our locker room. So I have no doubt in the guys in the room, in all of our rooms and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”

Since its Week 2 loss to Texas, Alabama has won seven straight games, including six against conference competition. The Tide has shown steady improvement, especially on the offensive side of the ball, and will look to continue that over the regular season’s final stretch, given the opportunity to get back to Atlanta, and possibly the playoff, in front of this squad. 

The key to avoiding a letdown is facing the reality of what would occur with a loss.

“I feel like this team really knows that we can’t lose another game, and I feel like that helps us a lot, in a way, just to know that we’re basically playing an elimination game every week,” Moore said. “That’s kind of how we approach and that’s why we have to be so focused on details and making sure we prepare the right way and just not allowing that to happen again.”

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