As it usually is, the college football world was shaken after Nick Saban and Alabama lost to the Tennessee Volunteers last Saturday night. 

Another field storming. More goal posts torn down. 

As hurtful as the defeat was, the now sixth-ranked Crimson Tide (6-1, 3-1 SEC) will turn the page and continue to attack its yearly goal — a national championship. It’s more than doable. Alabama has won six and appeared in nine title games under Saban — in only two of those seasons the Crimson Tide went undefeated. 

“The big thing our players need to do is learn from this experience,” Saban said after the loss. “[We need to] have more respect for playing with discipline so we don’t have all these penalties. I also told the players we can accomplish every goal we had starting at the beginning of the season. There’s no room for error in the [SEC] West. But if we win out in the West, we can win the West and still have a chance to go to the SEC Championship game. You’ve got to learn from these experiences, you’ve got to learn from these mistakes. You never improve if you can’t learn from your mistakes.”

Alabama hasn’t lost back-to-back games since 2013, when the Crimson Tide lost to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl following the Kick Six disaster in the Iron Bowl against Auburn. The Crimson Tide hasn’t lost consecutive regular season games since 2007. 

Losing has usually been a positive thing for Alabama. In the three regular season losses since 2019, the Crimson Tide has outscored its next opponent by at least 19 points. Many times, the lucky opponent to face Alabama following a defeat has been the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who will ride just 74 miles to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night. 

In the teams’ past three meetings, the Crimson Tide has outscored the Bulldogs 128-16, including a 49-9 victory in Starkville last October. 

This season, No. 24 Mississippi State (5-2, 2-2 SEC) has been a very solid team in the SEC West. Led by head coach Mike Leach, the Bulldogs are known for their ability to throw the ball all over the field — something Alabama has struggled to defend this season. Mississippi State’s “air raid” offense goes through quarterback Will Rogers, who leads the SEC in passing yards, completions and touchdowns. Rogers is seen as a potential first-round draft pick in the 2023 NFL Draft come April. 

Like Alabama, the Bulldogs are coming off a loss, suffering a 27-17 setback at No. 19 Kentucky last week. 

“Mississippi State’s an outstanding team,” Saban said. “Mike Leach is one of the most difficult guys offensively to try to defend.” 

“They spread the ball all over the field, as well as to the backs. This is a well-conceived, spread-type offense that’s different than any offense that you’re going to play against,” he said. 

But rather than worrying about the opponent, Saban said that it needs to start with his own team’s mentality and attitude. 

“I think the big emphasis for the team this week is playing to win,” Saban said. “There’s a big difference from playing to win and playing to keep from getting beat.” 

“There’s an old saying, don’t sweat the small stuff. But I think attention to detail and sweating the small stuff is really what our team needs to do better,” he said.  

After setting a program-record with 17 penalties at Tennessee last week, the Crimson Tide now leads all of DI college football with 66 flags this season. It’s not something Saban is used to dealing with — Alabama is usually near the top in terms of the country’s most disciplined teams. 

“We can’t continue to tolerate guys that aren’t doing the things they need to do to be successful,” Saban said. “Nobody’s entitled to a position. Everybody’s earned the position that they’re in by showing they have the capability and ability to do it on a consistent basis. From the bottom up — I’m talking about coaches, every player, me — we’ve all got to do a better job to help these guys learn from their mistakes, improve and get better.” 

Linebacker Will Anderson Jr., who’s used to dominating football games, was more or less a non-factor in the Crimson Tide’s loss to Tennessee. He’s ready to hit the reset button and move forward. 

“We’ve just got to go back home to momma, go back home to technique, go on back home to doing the right things the right way and just having our standard,” Anderson said. “Whether that’s tucking in your shirt, being on time for meetings, everything. Doing everything the right way, the way that Alabama is supposed to be ran and done.” 

National championship No. 19 is still right in front of Alabama. The road to the College Football Playoff gets started back up Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium. 

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Questions or comments? Email Austin Hannon (Sports Editor) at [email protected]