Saban believes Alabama is deserving of criticism after Texas loss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Whether from fans, media or even former players, Alabama has received plenty of criticism after its home loss to Texas on Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

But Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban said he believes it is all warranted.

“We didn’t play great,” Saban said after Wednesday’s practice. “So people get upset that we get criticized. But why wouldn’t we get criticized if we didn’t play well? I mean, people call me and say, ‘Hey, man. This guy’s a jerk for saying this about you.’ No, he really isn’t. It’s right. We didn’t play good. I’m responsible for that.”

Alabama (1-1) lost to a non-conference opponent during the regular season for the first time in a game that it struggled in various areas on both sides of the football. That led to former Crimson Tide players taking to social media to share their opinions on the team’s performance, whether receiver Marquis Maze, running back Bo Scarbrough or linebacker Reggie Ragland.

Against Texas, Alabama could neither get to the quarterback nor keep the Longhorns’ pass rush off Jalen Milroe, who turned the ball over twice in the loss. The team committed 10 penalties for a total of 25 in the home-and-home series with UT, and two of those wiped away touchdowns for the Tide. And the UA defense gave up far too many explosive plays through the air.

“In the real world when you don’t perform and you don’t produce, you probably get criticized, sometimes get penalized,” Saban said. “Some people lose their job when they don’t perform well. That’s maybe even worse than losing a game when you can’t feed your family and your children and all that and make your house payment. I guess that’s worse.”

While he understands the frustration, Saban hasn’t paid attention to what has been said.

“I haven’t listened to one talk radio show,” Saban said. “I haven’t read one newspaper. I have been focusing 100 percent of my time on the next team that we play, the last team that we played and what we need to do to fix that. And I think all the players would be better served and everybody in the organization would be better served if they all did that.

“Because what somebody else thinks really doesn’t matter. It’s all about what you do and how you respond to what you need to do so that you have a chance to be successful in the future.”

As Alabama turns its attention to righting the wrongs from this past weekend, Saban said UA’s focus is on playing to a standard and not “just talking about” what that standard should be.

“That’s something that we’ve been talking about all week,” Saban said. “Players have responded pretty well to it. I think the preparation has gone fairly well. So we’ve just gotta keep these guys focused on what they need to do. Obviously, the standard comes from here. Motivation comes from out there. And we would like for everybody to have pride in their performance so their standard is something that’s important to them and they’re willing to do the things to invest in their future that they need to do so that they can be the best players that they can be.

“Nobody can really have the poor-me’s about my circumstance, my situation and how I feel, we lost a game. None of that. Don’t waste a failing. Do everything you can to try to improve and get better, and that’ll help our team get better, as well.”

Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!

Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $1! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!