HOOVER, Ala. — These days, it’s not often Alabama leaves the field having suffered a defeat. Despite running the 2016 gauntlet with barely so much as a true test, the Crimson Tide found its equal in ACC champion Clemson in the National Championship Game. The two played one of the best football games of the season but when the clock struck zero, the Tampa confetti rained down on the Tigers.
With Alabama having failed to achieve its only real goal of the season, the program’s leader was asked what self-assessment was necessary to avoid similar missteps in the future.
“I think when you lose, everybody’s much more — the mindset is much more I’m willing to change,” Nick Saban said during SEC Media Days. “I want to learn. I don’t want to waste a failure. What could we have done better? Because everybody’s hurt by the fact that they lost, especially the way we lost that particular game on the last play of the game, but it wasn’t the last play. It’s what led up to the last play. And I think our players realize that.”
Saban’s sentiments were echoed by two of his chosen player representatives Wednesday. Senior offensive lineman Bradley Bozeman spoke of the program’s offseason mentality following the title game loss.
“There’s a lot of hard competitors on our team, and with Coach Saban, we focus on the process. We push every day and we try to be 1-0 at the end of every week,” Bozeman said. “We try to do things that other people don’t want to do or can’t do. We just push it, break down barriers, and knock down walls.”
Perhaps the ultimate key to Alabama’s success under Saban has been getting the team’s most gifted players to buy-in to their coach’s “Process” over the years. Junior defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick would certainly qualify as an elite talent. Heading into the 2017 season, Fitzpatrick may just be the best player on a team stacked with talented prospects.
The New Jersey native discussed the team’s extra attention to detail following the disappointing loss to Clemson. With a huge opening season showdown with Florida State on the docket, those same mistakes can’t continue to occur if the Tide is expecting to walk off the field as victors.
“You always learn from a loss, and if you don’t, then that’s on you,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re definitely using the motivation, and we’re not letting small things slide. That’s the reason we lost last year because we let little things slide towards the end of the season and the championship game. We lost because of small details.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
