2025 Alabama Team Hasn't Yet Found the 'Bama Standard'

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.–– Alabama's official pregame hype video released on team social media accounts Friday evening proclaimed that the last time the Crimson Tide took the field over 240 days ago to end the 2024 season was not up to program's standards.

After an offseason of talk about re-establishing the Alabama Standard, it is clear just one game in that the 2025 Crimson Tide team isn't there. It doesn't mean it can't get there at some point this season, but the team's performance on Saturday proved that the Alabama has a long way to go.

Instead of walking away from the season opener on a victorious high, it was an all-too-familiar scene in Tallahassee with Crimson Tide players having to duck opposing fans gushing from the stands at Doak S. Campbell Stadium.

With the 31-17 loss at Florida State, Alabama has now lost three of its last four games for the first time since 2007. All three losses are against unranked teams. The Crimson Tide is 5-5 in its last 10 games with losses to Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Michigan and now the Seminoles.

Alabama jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after a dominant opening drive. Florida State answered right back with a 75-yard drive of its own, and the Crimson Tide never looked the same. The Alabama defense didn't force a Seminole punt until the second half, and the offense didn't score again until halfway through the third quarter.

Head coach Kalen DeBoer said he doesn't want his team to play hesitant. Even though the offense scored on the first drive, he needs the whole team to start faster.

"I choose to believe we've got a good football team, but we can't play on our heels," DeBoer said after the game. "We're not going to be what we think we can be, what we want to be if that's the case and so that falls on everyone. I don't just point the finger at the players."

The Crimson Tide was penalized eight times for 70 costly yards. The offense suffered multiple dropped passes and allowed seven tackles for loss, including three sacks. The defense missed tackles throughout the game and allowed four plays of 25 yards or more.

On special teams, Alabama allowed a ball to roll into the end zone for a touchback on a punt when there were multiple guys in white jerseys around the ball. Conor Talty was well short on a 53-yard field goal attempt at the beginning of the second quarter.

Alabama did not look like a disciplined team and wasn't the most physical team on the field for the majority of the game going against an opponent in Florida State that finished 2-10 last season. The Seminoles pounded the Alabama defense for 230 yards on the ground, averaging nearly five yards a carry.

Crimson Tide quarterback and team captain Ty Simpson said it isn't that the players don't understand what the standard is.

"The standard is doing things in a professional way in the best that you can do it," Simpson said after the loss. "I still think to this day that our guys are some of the best players in the country and at the end of the season, we're going to be one of those top playoff teams. But we've got ot understand that we can't just play good for one drive. We have to understand that we have to keep playing, keep playing, keep playing. We can't look at the scoreboard."

Alabama came into the season as a top-10 team and was picked by many people to make the College Football Playoff in DeBoer's second season. The Crimson Tide returns key starters from last season and has one of the most talented rosters in the country on paper. The talent and discipline have to merge together on the field.

The coaches and players expressed optimism that Alabama can turn things around. And in the era of a 12-team playoff, an early season loss does not derail the season. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois at home in Week 2 last season and went on to play in the CFP championship game. Alabama lessened its margin for error. The CFP isn't out of the picture just yet, but changes will have to be made.

"We've got to play our style of ball and last year isn't this year and it's going to be an uphill climb for us, but you can't think of it in the scope of things, you've got to focus on the moment and the next moment is what happens tomorrow," DeBoer said. "And we'll find out, we'll find out. We've talked all along about chemistry on this team, about how close we are, how hard we worked, doing a lot of the right things, but we'll find out, we'll find out if that sticks. "