How Alabama Has Changed Its Mindset Since Florida State Loss

ATHENS, Ga. — It seemed like Alabama had zero chance of beating Georgia on the road in the moments that followed the Crimson Tide's season-opening loss to Florida State.

It was the beginning of Year 2 of the Kalen DeBoer era after a subpar first season, but in Alabama's first road test, it failed miserably as it was the first time the Crimson Tide lost a season-opener since 2001.

Fans were talking about buying out DeBoer's contract, and as that started to heat up, a switch flipped in Alabama. DeBoer intruded and yelled at the team during what was supposed to be a players-only meeting in the days that followed the loss to Florida State, and that lit a fire in them.

Alabama proceeded to beat Louisiana Monroe 73-0 and then Wisconsin 38-14. Of course, these teams weren't held in as high regard as the Tide's opponent on Saturday night in No. 3 Georgia. The Bulldogs had won an FBS active record of 33 consecutive home games, but DeBoer and company came in and took head coach Kirby Smart and company down 24-21.

So, how has Alabama truly changed over the past couple of weeks to get this done?

"They pretty much just got an edge to them," DeBoer said during the postgame press conference. "Took everything that was out there and channeled the energy into us. Into us being better and getting better. And there's two things you can do when things are coming down on you a little bit. You can go back yourself in a corner or you can fight.

These guys, they've made up their minds. They're gonna fight. The staff is doing the same thing. That was where it started, but I think it's just continued now, continued to build. We've gotta make sure we don't forget what that chip on the shoulder was that kinda got this momentum going. Gotta understand what it took mentally, physically, emotionally today to be able to sustain from start to finish. Not just 30 minutes. It's 60 minutes."

"Sustaining energy" has been a common phrase used by DeBoer since the season kicked off. He noted during the press conference that sustaining energy is "Not just for the season, not for the game, but each play." And that's what happened in Athens.

"We sustained it, and at the very end, churning out those first downs with the offensive line, that's something we weren't doing in fall camp," DeBoer said. "That's not something we were doing at the beginning of the season at the end of the game. Maybe we did it at the beginning of the game. The first drive, Florida State, worked at it, got it done, but we weren't doing that in the second half like we did tonight."

Alabama is now 3-1. This win should shoot the program up several spots in the rankings on Sunday afternoon, but what is the Crimson Tide's new identity?

"I think there's a toughness that's being built," DeBoer said. "I don't think we're there yet. I think there's things that we can do better. We talked about mental, physical and emotional toughness that it was gonna take. That was one of the first things we put on the keys to victory at the beginning of the week. We knew when it came to turnovers and takeaways, that was gonna be critical. And then executing in critical situations.

"And we did that, and those three things right there: We've taken care of the football, we executed in critical times, got the fourth-down stop, executed on third down, got off the field, especially in the first half, we were good in the red zone. Offensively, 4-for-4, I think three touchdowns. So, all those things, but there's a toughness that our guys are building on. We've still got a long ways to go, and they know that."

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