Alabama still taking small steps

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — If there is one phrase I can use to describe Alabama’s season so far, it probably would have to be “baby steps.”

Every week, Alabama has needed to make the smallest adjustments against different competition as it works toward a goal of a successful season.

Well, when it came to Saturday’s 21-14 loss to Florida State, this wasn’t exactly a baby step — this was one giant leap for mankind.

The Crimson Tide was facing a coach in Bobby Bowden who built one of the most successful programs in college football from the ground up.

It was on the road for the first time this season — it’s still tough to count that Vanderbilt game as being a road game — and it was responding to a loss for the first time since it finished last year with four straight.

That could be a recipe for success or disaster. You’re expecting the Crimson Tide to come out either fired up from the previous week or dejected and tired.

It seemed to be the latter for Alabama as the first half saw the Crimson Tide with just 78 yards of total offense.

Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson, trying to respond to his critics from the previous week’s performance, was 11-of-19 passing for 67 yards in the opening half.

Terry Grant, the most pleasant surprise for Alabama in recent weeks, had 36 yards total on nine rushes for the game.

The defense seemed unprepared when dual-threat quarterback Xavier Lee replaced dropback passer Drew Weatherford in the second quarter.

Even in the second half, with Alabama got back in the game and behind just 14-7 with 5:04 remaining, it just never really seemed like the Crimson Tide had a chance.

Against Georgia last week, we all knew that Alabama would make it close. Against Arkansas earlier, the Crimson Tide just had this bizarre karmic momentum going for it. Even though every bone in our bodies told us it wasn’t possible, we somehow knew it was going to win.

But Saturday, Florida State was a faster, better football team.

“I think when it comes right down to it, we didn’t execute as well as we need to in order to have success,” Saban said. “We want to play with intensity, toughness, everybody be responsible for how we execute. I didn’t feel like we got that done in the game tonight.”

A lot of times we make fun of Saban for this “process” that he often talks about. It’s mentioned in every news conference, it’s on the cover the team’s media guide. Even in an interview this past week, Florida State offensive coordinator and former Saban pupil at LSU, Jimbo Fisher, used the statement.

Despite the jokes that some may crack about this buzzword, that is exactly what Alabama is going through right now.

Every week the team works toward some kind of goal to move toward another kind of goal and the team is learning different intricacies about itself.

Against Vanderbilt, it saw it could dominate another SEC opponent.

Against Arkansas, it saw it could come back in the final two minutes and win. Against Georgia, Alabama found out what it was like to lose.

And Saturday, the Crimson Tide saw what it was like to not just lose, but to be beaten soundly in several facets of the game.

How this will play out in future weeks remains to be seen. The Crimson Tide should get back on track against Houston next week. And the week after, Alabama takes on struggling Ole Miss.

Even though Alabama lost against FSU, the team is seeing a different kind of adversity. It is not invincible. The season is full of ups and downs, and now the Crimson Tide just needs to respond.