Alabama players speak out on what comes next following loss to LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. — Will Anderson couldn't escape the raucous environment even after the game.
Inside a cramped visiting press conference room, LSU fans drowned out his answers with the permeating "L-S-U" chant. Before answering a question about what the Crimson Tide does going forward until the end of the season, Anderson closed his eyes and shook his head.
A quiet moment for him to be upset about the game, but also a realization that Alabama's preseason goal of winning the national championship was over.
"We have to get rid of all of the individual stuff, make sure everybody is locked in and everybody has two feet in," Anderson said. "We need to make sure we keep Alabama football the main thing while we're still here, and not think about the future. That's the message I'm going to give the team this week."
Saturday's loss was the earliest Alabama lost two games since 2010. Coincidentally, that was the last time LSU beat Alabama at Tiger Stadium. That year Alabama lost three games to SEC opponents in South Carolina, LSU and eventual national champions Auburn.
Despite the three-road losses, Alabama righted the ship against Michigan State at the Capitol One Bowl, scoring more than 45 points for the third time that season, to lead the Crimson Tide to a 10-win season.
Twelve years later, Nick Saban said the team needed to "check its goal card" adding the Crimson Tide has won 10 games every season since 2008.
"I told them that we all have a chance, we all have a legacy that we wanna uphold in terms of the pride that we have in our performance, as well as what our expectations are," Saban said. "And I told each player that they can develop in their stock by continuing to try to play well and improve and we can create value as a team if we continue to do the things that we need to do to get better as a team.
"There’s nobody that benefits from not getting better, there’s nobody that benefits from not playing well, whether it’s their future that they’re concerned about or this team. And these guys care about this team. When you play in a game like this, all you’ve got is the guys you’ve got, but that’s really all you need if you do things together and you do it the right way. I was proud of the way our guys competed in the game. We just didn’t make quite enough plays when we needed to and didn’t make the play at the end of the game."
Similar to its previous loss to Tennessee, Alabama couldn't stay disciplined, recording 199 yards in penalties. The markers plus the loss in the turnover battle have served as the team's Achilles heel in 2022.
Coming into Saturday, Alabama had a turnover differential of negative 0.5 and averaged 72.4 penalties per game, ranking the team No. 101 and No. 120 in the nation, respectively.
According to Anderson, it's the mental faux pas', not the effort, the team will need to fix to live up to its 10-win standard.
"Monday through Friday, we work our ass off," Anderson said. "There’s no bullshit or anything like that. All those guys are locked in. Effort is not the issue. We just have to lock it in. It's all mental. But I am super proud of those guys and I wouldn't have gone to war with any other (group) of guys."