Kadyn Proctor and Alabama didn’t silence anyone in Week 2, nor will they if they roll Wisconsin
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Raise your hand if you changed your opinion of Alabama after a Week 2 blowout win against Louisiana-Monroe.
Anybody? Is that … a hand over there? Nope? Just scratching your nose? Got it.
Alabama could’ve scored 630 points in Week 2 — the exact total from the 2020 national title season — and nobody should’ve become more optimistic about the Tide based on that. That didn’t erase a 14-point loss to Florida State, wherein Alabama was bludgeoned by the Seminoles in every way. Mind you, that was as a 2-touchdown favorite with 8 months to prepare.
Naturally, a bit of national criticism came Alabama’s way. When a preseason national title contender loses an opener against a team that was 2-10 last year, and it’s the 4th loss to an unranked foe in the first 14 games of the Kalen DeBoer era, that sort of thing happens.
According to preseason All-American Kadyn Proctor, though, that criticism took a back seat because of the Week 2 beatdown of ULM.
“Just realizing that there’s literal 45, 50-year-old dudes out there wishing that they were in our position, and they want to sit on their couch and criticize us,” Proctor said (H/T Touchdown Alabama). “It is what it is. You can’t take that to heart.”
So according to Proctor, “you can’t take that to heart,” but you can bring it up after beating Louisiana-Monroe?
“I think we were all pissed off, and we already knew what we had to do this week,” Proctor said. “Had to focus. Had to lock in. Like I said, not focusing on any outside factors. Not focusing on any of the hate we’ve been getting. It’s all about us. It’s all about that locker room.”
Again, if you’re truly not focused on it, you’re probably not bringing that up.
You’re also probably not silencing any criticism with a win against Wisconsin
There’s no silencing the criticism until Week 4 at Georgia, where Alabama will try to hand the Dawgs their first home loss in a night game since 2009.
Is that unfair? The 40-50 year-old dudes might not have NIL/future NFL riches like Proctor, but they’ve been around long enough to know what disappointing football looks like. After all, that demographic remembers life before Nick Saban. Listening to Proctor, one might forget that all the current Alabama players know is Saban, and the awkward 14-game start of DeBoer.
If it takes getting dismantled by Florida State and getting “pissed off” by criticism to light a fire under Alabama, Saban himself would tell you that’s not a championship mindset. Gone are the days in which the Tide are working against “rat poison,” which Saban referenced whenever he thought his team was getting too much love. Maybe that was the case when Alabama beat Georgia to earn a No. 1 ranking last year because all it’s done since then was go 4-5 vs. Power Conference competition.
The oddsmakers are still giving Alabama plenty of love with a 20.5-point spread in the Wisconsin rematch (via BetMGM). Take that for what it is. A team with 4 outright losses as a double-digit favorite in its last 10 games hasn’t earned the right to think that any Power Conference foe is an automatic win, even against a Wisconsin team who might have a backup quarterback out there, and is 8-13 vs. Power Conference competition under Luke Fickell.
Alabama could beat Wisconsin by 630 points in Week 3, and the 40-50 year-old dudes on the couch can still fairly bring up the fact that the Tide have a 2-5 record away from Bryant-Denny Stadium under DeBoer. That includes a 3-game losing streak in those contests, all of which saw Alabama held to 17 points or less while being on the wrong side of a 602-225 rushing yards disadvantage.
A “pissed off” Proctor will have a big say in turning that around. After all, he’s the one who has been showing up all over the way-too-early NFL Mock Drafts. That’s out of his control. What was very much in his control was allowing 6 pressures, 3 hurries, 2 QB hits and a sack in a game in which he was the blindside protector of a first-time starting quarterback.
But hey, I’m just a 35-year-old sitting in my office chair. Forgive my criticism.
Reality is that Proctor is hardly the first or the last player to get annoyed with criticism from people who didn’t play the sport. Reality is also that he signed with Alabama — after going back and forth with Iowa twice — to play in a spotlight that many a 40-50 year-old dude watches like a hawk. It’s a spotlight that shines a whole lot brighter in the games that matter than the games that don’t (ULM). Proctor knows that. At least I’d hope he knows that.
There’s nothing wrong with being fueled by doubt. There’s especially nothing wrong with showing up “pissed off” in Week 2 after a Week 1 showing like what Alabama did at Florida State. If Proctor and the Tide truly embrace an “us against the world” mentality, they’ll be better for it.
But if he and Alabama think that criticism about the state of the program will fade by winning lopsided matchups, this team is more lost than ever.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
