Alabama hoping to return to its 'hateful' ways on the road

The tide doesn't ask permission. It takes. It's relentless, rolling in on a schedule while engulfing everything in its path. It's only natural Alabama’s ethos has been established in a similar manner.

Here’s the thing, no one really wants ’Bama. The phrase gets thrown around in jest or occasionally during the immediate exuberance that follows a big win. However, when it comes time to face Alabama’s seemingly inevitable wave of destruction, few have what it takes to stand in its way.

And when the Crimson Tide comes rolling into your town, take cover.

Since hiring Nick Saban in 2007, Alabama is 55-9 on the road — an 85.9% success rate that tops all college teams over that span. The Tide built its current dynasty punishing opponents on their own turf, sending their home fans running for higher ground early in the second half.

Recently, though, that dominance has begun to dissipate.

Alabama barely survived a trip to Texas in Week 2, escaping Austin with a 20-19 victory. Last year, the Crimson Tide sweated out two-point wins at Florida (31-29) and Auburn (24-22, 4OT) and saw its streak of 100 straight victories over unranked teams snapped with a 41-38 defeat at Texas A&M.

That’s concerning for Saban, who expressed a desire for his team to return to its mean-spirited approach away from home several times over the past month.

“We used to play better on the road than what we played at home because we had some hateful competitors on our team,” Saban said during his weekly radio appearance following the win over Texas, “and when they played on the road, they were mad at 100,000 people and not the 11 guys they were playing against. And they wanted to prove something to everybody.”

No. 2 Alabama is hoping to reestablish its imposing identity this week as it travels to No. 20 Arkansas for its first SEC road test of the season. Heading into the matchup, Tide Illustrated spoke to a couple of the Crimson Tide’s past “hateful competitors” for a better look at what goes into that mindset.

The term “hateful competitor” was born inside the visiting locker room of Tiger Stadium following Alabama’s 10-0 victory over LSU in 2016.

The Crimson Tide’s defense had just shut down Tigers running back Leonard Fournette for the second straight season, holding the future top-five pick to just 35 yards on 17 carries. That spurred on the now-famous compliment from their head coach.

"We have some pretty hateful guys that play defense around here who are pretty good competitors,” Saban said during the postgame press conference. “So when they get challenged a little bit, they usually respond."

There’s a debate over which Alabama defense is best. However, the 2016 unit was definitely the nastiest. Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Dalvin Tomlinson provided the muscle up front while linebackers Ryan Anderson, Reuben Foster, Shaun Dion Hamilton and Tim Williams are the type of faces you don’t want to meet down a dark alley. Hard-hitting safety Ronnie Harrison even got into a sideline tussle with his teammate Deionte Thompson during the season opener that year.

Generally, though, that aggression was reserved for the opposition.

“We hate everybody on the other team,” Anderson said at the time. “Everybody that is lined up across from you, we hate you. We are going to try to kill you.”

No one died, but Alabama did murder a few more offenses. The 2016 shutout of LSU marked the beginning of a month of touchdown-free football for Alabama’s defense as it held its opponents to a combined six field goals and just 640 total yards over the next three games.

To use another one of Saban’s famous sayings, Alabama made their ass quit.

“We definitely had a swagger about ourselves,” Hamilton told Tide Illustrated this week. “I’ve played and been around a lot of ball, and to this day, I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something that had as much swagger and nastiness as there was on that team.”

A video of Damion Square’s pregame locker room speech sums up just how hateful Alabama’s intensity can get. During the 32-second clip, the former Crimson Tide defensive lineman stares into his teammates’ eyes while providing a chilling explanation of what is in store for their opponent.

“They done pissed me off, and the man on the field gotta see me,” Square says in the clip. “I’m gonna choke his ass out from snap to whistle. It ain’t my fault he’s the next man on the [expletive] schedule. We Bama. That’s what we do. They talk that [expletive] ‘cause they scared. We ain’t talkin’ no [expletive]. That’s the routine. That’s how we do it. That will not change today, I promise you that. They may look like they want it. But I guarantee you, he don’t want it. I’m gonna let him know, he don’t want it from me.”

Alabama’s hateful competitors haven’t needed much in terms of motivation. Although, speeches like the one Square delivered have commonly come from veterans on the team. While the majority of pregame hype is created by the players, coaches have been known to fan the flames on occasion.

Hamilton remembers former Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt “adding gasoline to the fire” during practice by getting under his players’ skin in an attempt to bring out their nasty side. Former Alabama strength coach Scott Cochran preferred a more visual approach, compiling clippings of statements said by the media or opposing teams leading up to games.

“They’d hang them around the locker room and around the weight room and stuff,” Payne told Tide Illustrated. “I mean it’s in your face at all times. It would be right there on your weight bench or right there on the door or something. It wasn’t something you really had to go searching for, you just looked at it every day.”

While the effectiveness of the bulletin-board material varied from player to player, Payne said he and most of his teammates had the same reaction.

“We’d really just joke about it, honestly,” he said. “We knew what we were going to go out there and do, and we always held up to it.”

There isn’t an easy place to play in the SEC. The video board inside Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium warns before games that “only Gators get out alive.” The stands sway inside Texas A&M’s Kyle Field while the fans inside South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium wave their towels while “Sandstorm” blares incessantly from the speakers.

For Alabama, the cross-state trip to Auburn has been the most challenging in recent years. However, LSU’s Tiger Stadium might offer the most hostile environment.

“One thing about Baton Rouge, the tone is set by the time you arrive,” Hamilton said. “When you get there Friday, the air just feels different. Everything feels different rolling up to the game, rolling up to the stadium. Their fans are super rowdy, super crazy. That environment is so hostile. You may pull up and see a little kid shooting you the bird saying things to you and throwing stuff at the bus. They’re definitely not going to welcome you at all.”

Hateful competitors live for settings like that.

“You just got to love that as a player to know that people hate you that much because you’re so great,” Hamilton said. “Their team can’t beat your team. That’s why they hate you.”

Hamilton’s favorite road memory came during the 2016 game against LSU where Saban’s hateful label was coined. With Alabama and LSU locked in a scoreless tie heading into the fourth quarter, he and the defense watched as quarterback Jalen Hurts led the Crimson Tide’s offense down the field.

“I remember, we told the offense that all we needed was a field goal,’ Hamilton recalled. “If we scored, we knew for a fact we were winning that game.

Hurts capped off the 12-play Alabama’s drive with a 21-yard touchdown with 13:08 remaining, quieting a previously-deafening Tiger Stadium. The following possession, the Crimson Tide’s defense sent Tigers fans home for good as defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick dove to haul in an interception at the Alabama 43-yard line, setting up a field-goal drive that all but sealed up the victory.

“That’s probably one of the best feelings you can have,” Hamilton said. “When you’re a player and you see all those players walking up the stands leaving, it’s the best feeling in the world because you know that you came and you did your job.”

When asked for their opinion on Alabama’s current hateful competitors, both Hamilton and Payne were quick to point to Will Anderson Jr. The junior linebacker, who earned the nickname “The Terminator,” is an obvious choice.

Anderson was college football’s most destructive force last season, leading the nation with 17.5 sacks and 33.5 tackles for a loss. The five-star edge rusher piled up 4.5 sacks over the past three weeks and appears poised to make a run at those numbers again this year.

“You can tell like just the swagger that guy plays with,” Hamilton said. “He’s tough, aggressive. He’s everything that the 2016 defense stood for, and I love watching him play every week.”

When asked this week, Anderson said he embraces Alabama’s hateful approach on the field. He isn’t shy about expressing it either.

“I tell people all the time, the audacity for the other team to even step on the field is disrespectful to me,” Anderson said. “I tell people that all the time. People ask me what motivates me. I say, the audacity for the fans to show up and for the team to come step on the field and play with us.”

Despite his statement, Anderson and the Crimson Tide will find an audacious Razorbacks team waiting for them when they step onto the field Saturday. Not only that, Arkansas is organizing a “red-out” for what is expected to be a full-capacity crowd inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

In that case, Alabama looks forward to playing the role of hateful house guests.

“I think the message this week is we want fans to leave their own stadiums,” Anderson said. “We’re going to try to preach that all week. Go out there and have fun, do your job, make sure the fans are leaving by the time halftime comes. At least by the end of the third quarter.”