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After tough South Carolina win, what’s next for Alabama football in SEC play?
Tim Smith was not shocked with how powerful Saturday’s win in opposition to South Carolina was for Alabama soccer.
The Alabama graduate defensive finish has been navigating SEC schedules since 2020. He’s been part of 4 SEC regular-season losses since his arrival at Alabama: Texas A&M in 2021, Tennessee and LSU in 2022, and Vanderbilt in 2024.
So when an SEC staff involves Bryant-Denny Stadium to play Alabama, Smith is aware of precisely what the Crimson Tide will get.
“We play at Alabama, you already know what I’m saying?” Smith mentioned. “We everyone’s Tremendous Bowl.”
And for the previous 10 quarters, Alabama has seen SEC groups’ bests, from the second-half comeback by Georgia to the four-quarter collapse in opposition to Vanderbilt and Saturday’s slender win in opposition to the Gamecocks.
Smith mentioned he is aware of what outsiders say. He harkens again to Alabama coach Nick Saban, calling different ideas and opinions “rat poison.”
“However relating to us, after they play us, you won’t acknowledge who the staff is,” Smith mentioned. “They got here out to ball and beat our behinds. That’s one of many incredible issues in regards to the SEC: Everyone desires our head.”
That narrative has continued by the Saban period and into Kalen DeBoer’s.
On ESPN’s “School GameDay,” Saban mentioned he noticed “somewhat little bit of complacency, virtually even conceitedness” from the Crimson Tide after the Georgia recreation and into Vanderbilt week.
After what Alabama noticed from Vanderbilt, and from the scare South Carolina gave the Crimson Tide Saturday, a well-recognized chorus rang out from contained in the Alabama locker room.
“We speak about it on a regular basis, it’s onerous to win within the SEC,” Alabama working again Justice Haynes mentioned. “They’re a extremely good staff, they usually took care of it right this moment. That’s all we will ask.”
It’s a mindset that retains Alabama grounded in a convention that got here into Saturday with 9 groups within the newest top-25 of the US LBM Coaches Ballot together with future opponents Tennessee, Missouri, LSU and Oklahoma.
Alabama nonetheless has notoriety within the SEC with what Saban constructed throughout 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa. However it’s a repute that has hit considerably of a roadblock over the course of DeBoer’s first six video games with the Crimson Tide, particularly over the previous 10 quarters of convention play.
Previously 10 quarters, Alabama has both regarded beatable or been overwhelmed. And as Alabama faces the meat of SEC play — what may very well be 4 ranked video games in 5 weeks — adversity stays for the Crimson Tide, one thing extensive receiver Germie Bernard mentioned the staff all the time talks about.
“I imply, we knew it could come,” Bernard mentioned. “It simply is determined by the way you reply. We responded properly this week and, I imply, we’ll simply proceed to sort things in apply that we’d like all through subsequent week and play a greater recreation.”
Colin Homosexual covers Alabama soccer for The Tuscaloosa Information, a part of the USA TODAY Community. Attain him at[email protected] or comply with him@_ColinGay on X, previously often called Twitter.
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