'The season is not over': Alabama looks to regroup after Texas loss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama faced its first test of the 2023 season on Saturday night, and the Crimson Tide did not pass it, losing to Texas by a score of 34-24 on its home field.

But head coach Nick Saban and Alabama’s players aren’t ready to drop the season, much like one would a class that seems too challenging one week into the semester. The Tide is looking to regroup following an early-season defeat in order to have a successful season.

“I told the players early in the week that this was gonna be a test, that we were gonna play a really good team and we would actually find out where we were as a team,” Saban said. “This was a test for everybody. It was a test for the coaches, it was a test for me, it was a test for all the players, and we obviously didn’t do very well. But it’s the midterm, not the final.

“So if we can learn from some of the mistakes that we made – coaches and players alike – we can all get better and have a lot better opportunity, I think, to be successful in the future.”

The Longhorns out-gained the Tide, 454-362, won the turnover battle, 2-0, and were able to get to quarterback Jalen Milroe (5 sacks), while Alabama’s defense didn’t apply much pressure on Quinn Ewers, who threw for 349 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions on 24-38 passing. Two of his touchdowns were among UT’s six plays of 30-plus yards.

The loss was Alabama’s first at home since Nov. 9, 2019, to eventual national champ LSU, and it was the first time since Nov. 17, 2007, the Tide lost a non-conference home game (ULM). The defeat not only ended Alabama’s 21-game win streak at Bryant-Denny Stadium, but it also snapped a streak of 43 straight home wins over non-conference foes.

Following the 10-point loss, several of Alabama’s players discussed the team’s mindset.

“The season’s not over,” Milroe said. “We’re gonna look in the mirror. We’re gonna try to improve. We’re gonna keep fighting, and no matter who it is, we’re gonna give our best foot forward as a team. Offense, defense, special teams, it doesn’t matter. We’re gonna keep on coming.”

Defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe said, “I’m always confident because this team is a team that will grow, a team that will learn from any lessons, and this loss was a lesson. We’ll look at the game, we’ll address the issues and we’ll be better than that, I can promise you that.”

Added right tackle JC Latham, “It’ll bring us together, I know it will. We’re a committed group. We’re locked in. We do everything that we need to, and we try to execute every single play. Clearly, we didn’t do enough this game, but we weren’t pointing fingers, we weren’t blaming it on nobody in the locker room. We took it on the chin, and we used it as a learning opportunity.”

Latham said he believes Alabama’s 2023 squad can still win a national championship. The team just has to do a better job of playing up to the program’s standard after the loss.

“You get everybody’s best,” Latham said. “You know everybody’s gonna come at you with everything they got and then some. So just to be able to get the best out of everybody is what we look for. We try to be the best.

“We want to be great. All of us want to be the greatest. I wanna be the greatest. So in order to do that you’ve gotta be able to go against teams like this, and you’ve got to be able to get hit in the mouth.”

From here, Alabama will attempt to pick up the pieces as it enters the third week of September and gets set to travel to Tampa, Fla., to take on South Florida in its first road game of the season. The Tide can still reach its goals of winning the SEC West, playing for an SEC title and returning to the College Football Playoff, but improvements are needed.

Alabama will return to the practice field Monday, Sept. 11, where it will have two choices.

“You can throw in the towel and quit and be mediocre, or you can fight and grind and do the hard things that you need to do to be successful,” Saban said. “And I think you don’t wanna waste a failing, and we certainly don’t wanna waste this failing. So we’re all gonna be committed to trying to do things better, practice better, prepare better, have a better plan for the players, whatever it is. All of us, coaches and players alike.

“And it all starts with me, and I obviously let our team down in terms of how we were able to execute and play.”

Shortly after Saban stepped out from behind the mic, Milroe shared the same sentiment.

“There’s two things we can do: we can linger on this loss or we can try to improve and get better as a football team,” Milroe said. “And I’ll bet on my guys any day of the week. So we’re gonna get better from this, we’re gonna learn from it and we’re gonna grow. What y’all saw tonight, that’s OK. We’re gonna improve, we’ll get better and we’ll attack the day.”

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