TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After a day off Monday, Alabama returned to the practice field Tuesday for the first of three open-week workouts. The two-hour practice was held under 96-degree weather on what was reported as the hottest October day in Alabama history. Apparently, the Crimson Tide’s performance on the day was just lukewarm.

“I wasn’t real happy with the practice we had (Tuesday) as the first day out,” head coach Nick Saban said on the SEC Teleconference. “Some guys did a good job, some guys were not what we’d like for them to be. But I think they’ll learn and grow and get better as the week goes on. We’ll just keep on keeping on.”

Saturday marks the first of two open dates for Alabama as it has the week off before a trip to No. 25 Texas A&M on Oct. 12. The Crimson Tide will also have an open week before its game against No. 5 LSU on Nov. 9.

The time off will allow Alabama to recover from a rash of injuries while also providing more time to mold a young defense which has seen five true freshmen make starts through the first five games. In total, the Crimson Tide has had seven freshman start games including defensive lineman D.J. Dale (5 starts), offensive lineman Evan Neal (5 starts), linebacker Shane Lee (5 starts), linebacker Christian Harris (4 starts), kicker/punter Will Reichard (4 starts), defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe (2 starts) and safety Jordan Battle (two starts).

“I don’t think there’s any question about the fact that the more repetitions that they get, the more opportunities they get to learn, the more exposure they get to things other teams are going to do to them, which you have an opportunity to do during a bye week when you don’t have to get ready for one particular team, I think will help these guys, help their knowledge,” Saban said. You can’t really coach experience. The players just have to get experience, and I think this does offer them an opportunity to get more experience.”

While the open week provides an opportunity to slow things down for Alabama’s freshmen, Saban made sure to point out that it isn’t an excuse for players to take their foot off the gas in terms of intensity during practice.

“You want to use the bye week,” Saban explained. "Either you can say, ‘OK, this is a week off. I’m going to just kind of go through the motions.’ Or you can say, ‘We’ll do quality control with every unit and every player. Here’s the things I need to work on so I can play better, because this is what I’ve put on tape, this is what other people see, this is what they’re going to try to take advantage of.’

“I think you want to do it with every player. I think obviously young players probably have a little bit more room relative to their knowledge and experience and how they can sort of benefit from having this extra time. You like for some of your older players to take the same approach to it and support and help those guys do it.”

Alabama (5-0, 2-0 in the SEC) usurped Clemson for the No. 1 ranking in both polls following its 59-31 victory over Ole Miss last week. The Crimson Tide has won all five of its games this season by 24 points or more and is outscoring opponents 259-74.

“I don’t think that rankings mean anything at this point,” Saban said. “The only time rankings mean anything is at the end of the season. At the end, if you don’t end up where you want to end up, it doesn’t really mean anything. So I think everybody should be ignoring that right now.”

Alabama will have a chance to improve on Tuesday’s sloppy performance as it takes the practice field again today at 3:40 p.m. CT. Saban is set to speak with reporters again following the workout.

“If everybody approaches the bye week the right way, it can be good for the team,” senior safety Jared Mayden said. “Just get back to the fundamentals, focus and getting back to communicating and tackling as a defense. I feel like everybody has the right idea to execute in the bye week.”

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