What 5 things does Alabama need to happen against Wisconsin before the SEC gauntlet?
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For the entire Alabama football machine and its still-shellshocked fan base, the 73-0 Week 2 torching of Louisiana-Monroe was both thorough and therapeutic.
Ty Simpson completed all 17 of his passes in just his 2nd career start before taking a seat with a 42-0 halftime lead.
Germie Bernard made everyone forget that Ryan Williams wasn’t out there.
Bama’s backs averaged almost 6 yards a pop even without Jam Miller.
And Kane Wommack’s much-maligned defense took out its angst on its poor Sun Belt guest, allowing just 9 first downs and 148 total yards.
It was complete and utter domination in the home opener, but it was also expected. Now comes a Week 3 crossroads kind of game, with a Big Ten team in Wisconsin coming to Tuscaloosa for a noon ET kickoff. It’ll be on ABC, and it’ll be quite telling, as Alabama plays its final game before a bye week that’s followed by the start of the grueling SEC gauntlet.
So, what do the 19th-ranked Crimson Tide still need to show the college football world — and themselves — against the 2-0 Badgers? Well, a whole lot. With that, here are the 5 things that Alabama needs to happen on Saturday before a week off that precedes its titanic SEC opener at Georgia:
1. How about finally getting to the quarterback?
If Alabama is going to survive that SEC gauntlet and live to tell about it, it simply has to start getting home. SEC offenses are simply too good, too diverse, to allow quarterbacks to operate without occasionally putting them on their backs. The Crimson Tide have had a seemingly endless line of legends through the decades who knew how to make opposing quarterbacks quake.
Not so far in 2025. Through 2 games, Bama has exactly 1 sack, and it came from a safety, with Keon Sabb doing the honors against Florida State. So, not only have there been 0 sacks from the front 7 in the first 2 games, there were also 0 sacks recorded against Louisiana-Monroe, which is sort of mind-boggling when you think about it.
It’s also unacceptable for an SEC team playing against a Sun Belt team, and when that SEC team is Alabama, then eyebrows should be raised for all the wrong reasons. This early, ugly trend needs to end on Saturday with at least a few sacks. If Bama can’t solve Wisconsin’s O-line and get to the quarterback, then how are the Tide going to survive against speedier SEC lines?
The answer is — they won’t. That gives this front 7 that was so heralded in fall camp 1 more chance before conference season to prove that the first 2 games were sort of a mirage and that those sacks will start coming in bunches. Wisconsin could be just the cure to get that pass rush going. According to Pro Football Focus, the Badgers allowed 13 quarterback pressures in their opener against Miami (Ohio). The most pressures they allowed in a game last season was 12 against Oregon.
If a MAC defensive line can do that to Wisconsin, then Bama has no excuse for not doing at least the same — if not a whole lot more.
2. Must get the running game going, with or without Jam Miller
So far, it’s all been without Miler, who missed the first 2 games of the season with a dislocated collarbone that he suffered during a scrimmage in fall camp. That particular stroke of bad luck just might have set the stage for the Florida State loss, because instead of controlling the clock with Miller as its main engine, the Seminoles were doing the controlling on the ground.
That leads us to Saturday and the potential return of Miller, who head coach Kalen DeBoer said will be a game-time decision. This means the senior who had 668 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns last season and was poised for even bigger things this fall could finally be making his 2025 debut. Or, just maybe, he won’t quite be ready at kickoff and DeBoer will decide to give him the bye week to be fully recovered for Georgia and the SEC slate.
If Miller can’t come to the rescue in Week 3, it’s up to the other Bama backs to rescue the running game themselves. So far, minus Miller, it hasn’t gone well, and that’s an understatement. Through 2 games, redshirt freshman Kevin Riley has been a nice little story, averaging 6.3 yards per carry, but he can’t be your leading rusher with 100 yards total. That’s just not sustainable when it comes to winning SEC games.
Ideally, Miller will return on Saturday, carry the backfield load like it was originally scripted, and then Bama’s stable of young backs can fall in line behind him. But if not, if this collarbone issue continues to linger into the bye week and beyond, then Riley, or AK Dear, or Richard Young, or Daniel Hill — or how about senior transfer Dre Washington — somebody needs to step forward and take charge until Miler is truly healthy.
3. Get the 2025 Ryan Williams feeling like the 2024 Ryan Williams
On Wednesday, DeBoer gave reporters the news that Alabama fans have been clamoring for. DeBoer said he expected Williams to return on Saturday against Wisconsin after a concussion that he suffered in the opener against Florida State forced last season’s phenom to miss the Louisiana-Monroe game.
Assuming Williams does play, this is a huge development, because you just never know with concussions. And now we apparently know that the guy who set the college football world on fire as a 17-year-old last fall is on his way back. After being held to 5 catches for 30 yards by FSU and suffering a few drops before the concussion in the 4th quarter and then sitting out last week, it feels like Williams’s 2025 season hasn’t even started yet.
Because it kind of hasn’t, and that needs to change on Saturday against the Wisconsin secondary. Ty Simpson needs to start building that in-game rapport with the guy who’s supposed to be Bama’s No. 1 target. So far, Germie Bernard has been that guy for Simpson, catching 11 passes for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns. That’s all well and good, but if Alabama is going anywhere this season, it needs Williams to take that next step into superstardom.
That can now begin to happen on Saturday. A big afternoon for Williams against the Badgers would put him back on schedule, and then he and Simpson would have the bye week to fine-tune things before that trip to Georgia on Sept. 27. Bama needs a lot of things to happen on Saturday, but at the top of the list is finally feeling good about college football’s oldest 18-year-old.
4. How about a 3rd straight turnover-less game to take into the bye?
Through all of the teeth gnashing about Alabama’s uneven 1-1 start and especially that opening loss at Florida State, the Crimson Tide can cling to the fact that they’ve yet to turn the ball over. Will that change the 230 yards rushing they gave up in Tallahassee or the meager 17 points they put up while losing by 2 touchdowns as a 2-touchdown favorite?
No, it won’t. But it’s also nothing to just brush off, especially with a new starting quarterback at the helm and with Alabama missing its top receiver in Week 2 and its top running back in both games. All of that, to go with a new offensive coordinator, is a recipe for some early season turnovers, but the Ty Simpson-led offense has been able to avoid that.
If Bama can avoid any turnovers for a 3rd straight week, it would be something substantial to hang its hat on going into the SEC jungle. Committing turnovers and forcing them tend to become a habit for a team, for better or worse, as seasons progress. Another turnover-free game on Saturday would mean another positive brick that furthers a narrative that this Alabama team at least knows how to take care of the ball.
5. The game needs to be effectively over by middle of the 3rd quarter
OK, maybe that’s a little too extreme. How about late 3rd quarter? The Week 2 rout might have been therapeutic, to most in Bama football circles anyway, but the FSU fiasco still lingers. The Tide are a 3-touchdown favorite on their home field against a Big Ten team that only managed 17 points against Miami (Ohio).
With Ryan Williams back and maybe Jam Miller, too, if this game is still relatively in doubt at the start of the 4th quarter, then what are we to really make of this Alabama team come later this month when it’s time to head to Athens? This Saturday needs to look good. It needs to be convincing. If not, many out there won’t be convinced this Tide team has staying power through December.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
