It was only a month ago that Alabama looked every bit the Nick Saban-style juggernaut through the first 15 minutes of game clock against fellow Southeastern Conference power Georgia.
Coach Kalen DeBoer’s first Crimson Tide team has looked downright mortal, perhaps even mediocre, since then during a sputtering run that has included costly penalties, errant passes from former Heisman Trophy favorite Jalen Milroe, and an often vulnerable defense.
The latest blow was last Saturday’s 24-17 loss at Tennessee, which rose four spots to No. 7 in this week’s AP Top 25 as the Tide slid eight spots to 15th. The setback left Alabama (5-2, 2-2 SEC) with multiple losses before November for the first time since 2007 — Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa — and now No. 21 Missouri (6-1, 2-1) visits Saturday.
The ranking is Alabama’s lowest since 2010, which was the only season in a 16-year span the Tide lost as many as three times. Another loss would almost certainly eliminate DeBoer’s team from even the new 12-team field for the College Football Playoff.
DeBoer was Washington’s coach the past two years before taking over as the replacement to the retiring Saban in January. He led the Huskies to the final four-team edition of the CFP and a runner-up finish last season, when the Tide made the bracket as the No. 4 seed after winning the SEC championship.
Milroe was the quarterback for that run, and he isn’t giving up on another one just yet.
“We’ve got to have a starving mindset,” Milroe told reporters after Saturday’s loss. “To want to get better, want to grind, want to be the best version of ourselves, want to be the best offense in the country. And a lot is still out there with the right mindset.”
Alabama has been outscored 123-92 since racing to a 28-0 lead over Georgia, which was No. 2 at the time and returned to that post this week. The Tide went on to win that game 41-34 with two big plays by freshmen: Milroe’s late 75-yard bomb to receiver Ryan Williams, followed by an interception in the end zone by Zabien Brown.
That vaulted Alabama three spots in the rankings to No. 1, albeit only briefly. A stunning 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt followed.
“You can’t have the mistakes, you can’t have the penalties, got to have better execution,” DeBoer said Monday. “All those things that put you behind the eight-ball throughout the course of the game. Here in the SEC, there’s such a fine line between winning and losing, and that’s how you get beat. That’s on all of us.”
Making matters tougher, cornerback Keon Sabb is hurt with what DeBoer described as “a lower-extremity injury.”
“We’re still gathering information here, but we do expect him to be down for a while,” DeBoer said. “That could be an extended amount of time, and we’ll just continue to evaluate that.”
Whoever’s available, there are plenty of areas that need improvement.
Alabama committed 15 penalties for 115 yards against Tennessee. The backbreaker was Kendrick Law’s 15-yard personal foul to force the Tide into fourth-and-22 in the final minutes. The attempt for a first down fell short.
“Obviously in that moment, we’re fighting to try to find a way to win. It’s a big moment,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got to make sure we, of course, address them. But we can’t continue to have mistakes, those in particular that we can control.”
The Volunteers intercepted Milroe’s next and final pass after Alabama got the ball back.
Milroe looked like a legitimate Heisman candidate after the Georgia win. In the three games since, he has three touchdown passes and five interceptions while netting only 57 rushing yards with sacks factored in.
Even the lone victory in this three-game stretch was ugly. Alabama needed Domani Jackson’s goal-line interception to hold on 27-25 against South Carolina. The Gamecocks had a third-quarter touchdown drive on which they converted all five third-down attempts.
And it’s clear Milroe has to get the ball to playmakers beyond Williams. The talented freshman was targeted 18 times against Tennessee and had eight catches for 73 yards. Germi Bernard caught five passes for 72 yards on five targets. Law was the only other Tide receiver credited with a target on a nonpenalty play.
Neither tailback used regularly by Alabama, Jamarion Miller nor Justice Haynes, has rushed for more than 45 yards in an SEC game.
There is some upside. Alabama faces only one ranked team after the Missouri game, traveling to No. 8 LSU on Nov. 9, and it’s over the next few weeks that the playoff field will truly take shape.
Said Milroe: “There’s so much more football left.”