The 2022 campaign has not been a stellar one for Alabama as the Nick Saban–led squad sits 7–2 and on the outside looking in on the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
While Georgia led the top spot, the Crimson Tide fell to No. 9, marking the first time in CFP history that Alabama and Clemson were not in the top six. This season, Alabama narrowly beat No. 18 Texas and hung on against unranked Texas A&M to win by four points. But the team’s two losses were to No. 5 Tennessee on Oct. 15 and No. 7 LSU in overtime last weekend.
Former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy is the latest to raise concerns about the SEC powerhouse, which Saban addressed during his weekly SEC teleconference.
“We work every day to try to play to a standard and we’ve had a lot of good teams around here for a long time,” Saban said. “We lost two games by a total of four points, both on the last play of the game. Are there a lot of things we could do better? Are we satisfied with where we are as a team? Absolutely not.
“But at the same time, sometimes when the standard is so high, there may be some occasion where you don’t quite meet the standard and the expectation that everybody has for you. I do think that standard and expectation has not been something that has helped this team focus on the right things—stay focused on the process, not get so concerned about the results you get—but what you’ve got to do to get the results and that’s something we’ve been trying to emphasize with them.”
McElroy said Tuesday on ESPN’s Always College Football podcast that “this is the first time that I have ever actually been concerned about the future of the program.” While he said he’s “never gone as far to say that Nick Saban should leave, or ‘This coach should be fired,’ and ‘This guy is terrible and needs to be benched,’” he does feel the program is at a “crossroads.”
“Here’s the problem right now—there are a lot of guys on that roster, and a lot of coaches frankly on that staff, that didn’t really have anything to do with the foundation of the program being created,” McElroy said. “There’s really only one guy that’s been there from the beginning, that has a great understanding of how that program was built, and that’s Nick Saban. There needs to be a legitimate effort from Nick Saban to bring in coaches that understand what this program once looked like and what this program needs to look like.”
McElroy played for Alabama from 2007 to ’10 and saw the culture shift that came after Saban was hired in ’07. The former quarterback discussed on the podcast how the legendary coach has “preached discipline, effort, toughness, pride” as he led the program to six national titles.
“This is not gonna be Alabama’s year,” McElroy said on the podcast. “Not all seasons are defined by success or failure as to winning the championship or not. I don’t think that’s fair, for anyone. I do not think the Alabama run is over. I don’t. But I do feel like the program is on more shaky footing than it’s been on in quite some time.”
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For more Alabama coverage, go to Bama Central.
