All We Got is All We Need: Alabama Embracing Road Warriors Mentality Ahead of CFP First Round

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- What a rush! The Road Warriors iconic line was always the first sound the crowd would hear before Hawk and Animal entered the ring and caused destruction. Alabama football embraced the infamous tag-team's us against the world mentality in 2025 and turned it into an impressive 4-1 record on the road after going 2-3 last season.

"Yeah, we kind of knew this season coming in that on the road last year it wasn't where we wanted, so we kind of took the badge of honor of being Road Warriors and making sure that like it's not going to be easy on the road, right? Whether it's Florida State, Georgia, South Carolina, anytime you play on the road, period, even in the SEC, it's going to be hard," Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson said. "We take pride in doing stuff the hard way, just because we're Alabama. So anytime we wear the white jerseys and go on the road, we know that we mean business and it's going to be hard, and we embrace it."

The Crimson Tide opened the year with a disastrous 31-17 loss at Florida State, creating concern for the 2025 and infusing the fan base with doubt in Alabama's ability to win away from Bryant-Denny Stadium under second year head coach Kalen DeBoer. The program went on to win its next four SEC games in opposing stadiums, beginning with ending No. 5 Georgia 33-game home winning streak and culminating with a rivalry game win over Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

"As far as differences from this year to last year and first of all there are, we've played much better," DeBoer said. "4-0 in the conference games in really strong environments. We maybe show up a little bit earlier, just like an hour or two. It's really nothing major, things that we worked into our schedule. We still do our team meeting on the road. We still do position meetings and stuff, so really not a lot that we change. I think it's all about the mindset that when you're in the moment, how you're going to respond because you don't have your home crowd and I think that's where - we've executed better in the critical situations and that was kind of the a theme going into the offseason that I've really stressed to you and as well as the team. I think we've been better in those moments because these games do come down to the wire. The one game we didn't make the critical plays was this one at home. So we've actually done a pretty good job on the road, but that's really been where I think we've improved to be better on the road in these types of games."

Alabama's strong road record was enough to put the Crimson Tide in the 2025 College Football Playoff against a team that's plagued them over the last two seasons, the Oklahoma Sooners. The Crimson Tide mustered only three points and saw their College Football Playoff hopes come to an end in Norman in 2024.

"I would say it starts with a mindset," Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said." Just knowing it's everyone against us. We're all we got, we're all we need. That's been our saying this year. It's just a different feeling when you're going into a hostile environment. Everybody's against you, and you know you've got to be just that more detailed or have that much more focus on every play. I think that's just the difference in the mindset."

The Crimson Tide enters Friday's matchup with a 0-2 record in Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and will have to embrace the Road Warriors mentality one more time to advance to the quarterfinals in the College Football Playoffs.