Kalen DeBoer didn’t want to refer to Saturday night as a wake-up call. And to be honest, it’s hard to classify No. 4 Alabama’s 42-16 win over South Florida.

It’s certainly not the blowout the scoreline suggests.

Despite coming five points away from covering a 31-point spread, the Crimson Tide struggled for much of the night against its Group of Five opposition. Alabama led 14-13 heading into the fourth quarter and was clinging to a 21-16 lead with less than six minutes to play before Jalen Milroe hit Ryan Williams for a 46-yard touchdown to put the Tide up by two possessions for the first time all night.

The win certainly didn’t match the efficiency of Alabama’s season opener against Western Kentucky, either. Unlike last weekend, when the Tide cruised to a 63-0 victory, Saturday’s win came despite a comedy of errors.

Alabama was flagged 13 times for 120 yards on the night. Two of those penalties wiped away touchdowns. The Tide also coughed the ball up three times, including a fumbled snap on third-and-goal from the South Florida 2-yard line while still leading by just a point early in the fourth quarter.

Sure, Alabama scored four touchdowns from there to put the game away comfortably. But don’t be fooled. This one wasn’t pretty for the boys in crimson and white.

Alabama’s frustrating night came on a field that was freshly dedicated to Nick Saban. The legendary head coach was in attendance and didn’t seem too pleased when ESPN cut to him in his luxury box throughout the game.

It would be interesting to see how Saban classified this one. At the very least, he would have likely delivered a wake-up call of his own with one of his patented postgame tirades.

This was the kind of game Saban despised. A late surge against a gassed USF defense not only allows a sloppy performance to be swept under the rug but could also create a sense of false confidence for the Tide moving forward.

Wake-up call? Maybe not. But Alabama will need to learn from this one. Play like this against Wisconsin next weekend, and the Tide might not make it out of Camp Randall with its perfect record still intact. A performance like this against Georgia would certainly result in an embarrassment to begin SEC play later this month. And if Alabama can’t learn from these mistakes by then, it’s going to be a long season in Tuscaloosa.

In today’s column, I’ll provide my takeaways from Alabama’s frustrating Week 2 win. So pour yourself a drink, shake this one off, and let’s dive in.

Alabama fans might prefer something a little stronger as they attempt to put Saturday night out of their memory. However, we’re keeping this week’s drink PG as we recognize the Tide’s 17-year-old playmaker.

The way Ryan Williams is playing, he’ll never have to buy a drink in Tuscaloosa. The only problem is the reclassified freshman receiver will likely have moved on to the NFL before he reaches the legal drinking age.

For a second straight game, Williams led Alabama in receiving, pulling in four receptions for 68 yards, including a game-changing 43-yard score in the fourth quarter. Through two weeks, the freshman phenom has a team-high six catches for 207 yards and three scores.

In honor of that, this week’s drink is Session Cocktail's Take the Pain Away, a non-alcoholic spin on the popular Painkiller cocktail.

To make this drink, you’ll need two ounces of non-alcoholic rum (yes, that’s a thing), two ounces of pineapple juice, an ounce of coconut cream and an ounce of orange juice. Shake the ingredients over ice and strain them into a glass of crushed ice. From there, grate a bit of nutmeg for a garnish.

Like Williams’ playmaking ability, this drink is pretty sweet. Unlike Alabama’s performance against South Florida on Saturday night, it won’t give you a hangover the following day.

Cheers!

(Commercial break: My drink of the week section is now sponsored by my friends at Session Cocktails in Tuscaloosa. Session has been a mainstay in Tuscaloosa’s cocktail scene since 2019 and offers some of the tastiest drinks in town. Stop by and tell them I said hi!)

A few knocks across Alabama’s offensive line caused the Crimson Tide to shuffle its front Saturday night. Kadyn Proctor’s absence was expected as the starting left tackle is still nursing a shoulder injury he suffered during pregame warmups ahead of last weekend’s opener. However, few expected the Tide to be without Proctor’s backup, Elijah Pritchett, for most of Saturday night’s win.

Pritchett didn’t enter the game until roughly six minutes remaining. Instead, Alabama slid Tyler Booker over to left tackle while using Michigan State transfer Geno VanDeMark to fill in at left guard. Following the game, DeBoer said the decision not to start Pritchett came as the redshirt sophomore was dealing with a knock of his own that caused him to miss some time in practice this week.

“He could have started the game,” DeBoer explained. “We were just trying to hold on as long as possible. Try to keep him 100% healthy. Got through just fine tonight. I think we’re going to be in better shape offensive line wise going into next week. Was a little touch-and-go there at some points during the week with a few different guys.”

Touch-and-go is putting it lightly. Alabama struggled to run the ball consistently with Booker out of his typical left guard role. VanDeMark also struggled in his spot start, committing three penalties while earning a 55.4 offensive grade from Pro Football Focus. It’s pretty obvious that Alabama’s long-term answer up front doesn’t involve Booker at one of the tackle roles. However, that’s not the point here. The Tide shouldn’t have to worry about that once Proctor returns from his injury.

The real story coming out of Saturday is what happened when Pritchett entered the game.

Instead of subbing in for Booker at left tackle, Pritchett replaced struggling right tackle Wilkin Formby late in the fourth quarter. From there, he helped clear the way for long touchdown runs from both Jam Miller (56 yards) and Justice Haynes (29 yards), as Alabama piled up 137 of its 194 yards in the final quarter.

What does that mean for the Tide’s offensive line moving forward?

After losing out to Formby for the starting right tackle spot this offseason, Pritchett certainly made a case to take over the role once Proctor returns to the left side. Formby certainly didn’t do himself any favors Saturday night, committing three holding penalties that wiped off a total of 129 yards including a 74-yard touchdown run by Milroe.

Saturday’s game is too small of a sample size to make a definite decision. However, I’d say Alabama’s right tackle battle is back on heading into Week 3.

The nose tackle position is generally a thankless role. Alabama defensive tackle Tim Keenan III often doesn’t see his efforts show up on the stat sheet as he’s typically tasked with taking on double teams from opposing offensive lines. That being said, nothing was stopping the 6-foot-2, 326-pound defensive lineman Saturday night.

Keenan bullied his way to a career-high nine stops, including 2.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks, to go with a quarterback hurry against South Florida. Three of those tackles prevented the Bulls from moving the chains on third down. So did his quarterback hurry. Meanwhile, the Birmingham, Alabama native served as a brick wall on early downs, stuffing USF’s running game up the middle to set up difficult situations.

Keenan was feeling it, too. The mammoth defensive tackle was animated after several of his stops, injecting energy into an Alabama defense that was routinely forced back onto the field by its struggling offense.

“I’m a big juice guy, big influence guy,” Keenan said after the game. “Just trying to make sure I’m influencing the team the best way I can by doing my job to my best ability.”

Keenan certainly did that Saturday night, bailing Alabama out on multiple occasions. And while he typically doesn’t receive the credit he deserves, the big man gets my game ball for his performance.

If coachspeak scored points, Milroe would already be playing on Sundays. The redshirt junior has mastered the art of spewing buzzwords and recited rhetoric following games, so much so that even he seems bored with his answers sometimes.

Milroe has DeBoer’s 1-0 mindset down pat, and he’ll be the first to tell you about the team’s relentless pursuit of continuous improvement. However, while he speaks like a veteran quarterback, Alabama is going to need him to start passing like one if it wants to break down better defenses.

Milroe completed 17 of 27 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns against South Florida. While those aren’t terrible numbers, he struggled to step up in the pocket and failed to find open outlets too often during the game. Milroe also reverted back to his struggles in the intermediate passing came, completing just 2 of 5 throws that traveled between 10-19 yards past the line of scrimmage, according to PFF. That likely won’t fly against Georgia at the end of the month, and it certainly needs to improve if Alabama is going to return to the College Football Playoff.

Don’t get me wrong, Milroe hasn’t been terrible through two games. The dual-threat playmaker has completed 66.7% of his passes for 399 yards and five touchdowns without an interception while adding 81 yards and four more scores with his feet. If he keeps up this pace, he’ll have 55 total touchdowns by the time the Tide wraps up regular-season play in November. Still, something will need to change if he wants to put himself in a position to add to his production in December and beyond.

We’ll have to wait and see what transpires moving forward. At least for now, Milroe is saying all the right stuff.

“We’re not a finished product,” Milroe said after the game. “There’s so much more we can grow and become as an offense. But one thing that’s for certain is just the tremendous growth that we continue to make each and every week. And it’s going to be evident as we go along this process and as we go along this process of a season. So I’m definitely excited for what the future holds on offense, but we just acknowledge that we’re not a finished product. We just have to have that relentless pursuit to the team’s improvement.”

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