TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Year after year, Nick Saban brings in top recruiting classes at Alabama. Every guy has personal goals they want to accomplish like making it to the NFL, but each player also wants to win championships.
And Alabama is usually a pretty good place to do that. Since 2009, the Crimson Tide has either won a national championship or SEC championship (or both) every year except three (2010, 2013 and 2019.)
| Year | SEC Title | National Title | Neither |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2009 |
√ |
√ |
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2010 |
√ |
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2011 |
√ |
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2012 |
√ |
√ |
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2013 |
√ |
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2014 |
√ |
||
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2015 |
√ |
√ |
|
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2016 |
√ |
||
|
2017 |
√ |
||
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2018 |
√ |
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2019 |
√ |
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|
2020 |
√ |
√ |
|
|
2021 |
√ |
But with the loss to LSU last Saturday and the loss to Tennessee a few weeks ago, Alabama is more than likely out of any sort of title hunt barring multiple crazy things happening around college football (like the Tigers losing to both 5-4 Arkansas and 3-6 Texas A&M in the coming weeks.)
So where does the team turn now? What’s the focus of a team filled with winners who are used to championships that are now knocked out of the title race in early November for the first time since 2010?
“We need to get focused on what it takes to win games,” Saban said Monday. “Play the game. Win the game. Prepare for the game. Know you’re going to go into the game with confidence and understanding of what you need to do to be able to have success in your position, which is something that we need to do a better job of as coaches so that players feel that way in the game.”
Several Alabama players have spoken this week about the mindset of the team. Senior safety DeMarrco Hellams talked to the media Tuesday before practice and said he saw a team that was ready to finish strong at practice on Monday.
“Some things might seem like they’re over with, but the season isn’t over with,” Hellams said. “We’re not quitting on ourselves as a team. I’m not quitting on anybody on our team. Nobody on our team is quitting on each other. We all just came together yesterday as a team and just decided, ‘We’re going to do this.’ We have to buy in as a team, and make that decision as a team to finish the season strong no matter what the outside noise is saying.”
In the postgame press conference after the LSU loss, Saban said one goal this team can still accomplish is winning at least 10 games, which every Alabama team has since 2008.
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For guys like Javion Cohen and Byron Young, it’s still upholding the Alabama standard, even when not playing for a championship. Young said he still plans to come into practice each day like he’s preparing for a national championship that Saturday.
“You’ve got a lot of people that might be questioning what we’re playing for, might be questioning a lot of different things around why we’re still doing what we’re doing,” Young said. “But I think at the end of the day, we got to get across to some of the guys that might not understand that. Like I said, we’re playing for the people beside us, the name on the back of our jersey, the ‘A’ on the front. So we still have a standard that we have to uphold. We’ve just got to get it across that we’ve still got something to play for.”
The senior defensive lineman is trying to keep the younger guys motivated and accountable for the final three games of the regular season.
Cohen said that the season’s not over just because the Crimson Tide took a second loss, it doesn’t mean the season over. The players are looking forward to playing Ole Miss this week.
“There’s still a lot to be played for,” Cohen said. “We still have a season to play. We still have a standard to uphold. So we’re just going to go out there and try the best that we can.”
Since the loss, Saban has also pointed out multiple times that every player has the opportunity to create individual value for themselves in the remaining games. Whether that is players hoping to move on to the next level, or younger guys proving why they deserve more playing time or a starting spot next season. With around a dozen NFL draft hopefuls on the roster, these last few weeks can be crucial in either increasing or decreasing NFL draft stock.
The test of that focus will come this Saturday when No. 9 Alabama travels to No. 11 Ole Miss this Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on CBS, facing a familiar foe in Rebel head coach Lane Kiffin.
“I think it’s a challenge for all of us to have pride,” Saban said. “We’re going to play a good team this week and I’m sure they’re going to want to put up on their mantle ‘we beat Alabama’ too. So it’s just a matter of whether we’re going to let that happen or we’re going to go do everything we can to try to avoid it because Ole Miss has a really good team.”
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