QB Bryce Young believes his Alabama team still has much to play for, will give the Rebels their best
OXFORD, Miss. – As his team prepares to play Ole Miss Saturday, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young understands his Crimson Tide team still has much to play for.
After suffering a 32-31 overtime loss at LSU last week, many in the media –and certainly Alabama fans — are looking for answers as to why the Tide has lost two regular-season conference games for the first time since Nick Saban’s first year in Tuscaloosa.
Young understands the skepticism in the Crimson Tide’s fan base.
“You’ve got a lot of people that might be questioning what we’re playing for, might be questioning a lot of different things around why we’re still doing what we’re doing,” Young said this week.
“But I think at the end of the day, we got to get across to some of the guys that might not understand that. Like I said, we’re playing for the people beside us, the name on the back of our jersey, the ‘A’ on the front. So, we still have a standard that we have to uphold. We’ve just got to get it across that we’ve still got something to play for.”
Alabama QB Bryce Young
That starts Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium when No. 6 Alabama tries to rebound against No. 11 Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide will be looking from within to try to right its ship this week.
“We pull from our leaders often, and we’re all on the same page as far as what we need to do to finish this season,” offensive lineman Javion Cohen said. “It’s not over just because you took a loss. Still more games to be played and we’re all looking forward to Ole Miss this week.”
Yet the players are still looking for guidance from Saban and his staff.
“I think it’s something the coaches can help with, but I think ultimately it comes down to each player,” Young said.
“I think every single player has to have the want-to to do things correctly, and they have to have 100-percent buy-in. So, I think when you talk about the mental side of it, that’s something that every player has to look in the mirror every single morning, and they’ve got to make the decision to come in ready to work and do things the correct way.”
Bryce Young
One person who fully expects Saban and Alabama to be prepared Saturday and knows what a challenge it will be to beat the Tide is Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.
“...They’ve lost two games by two plays and both games could’ve went either way. Alabama makes the field goal at Tennessee and the two-point gets stopped, then they’re the No. 1/No. 2 team in the country coming in here. So we’re talking about two plays, two teams on the road in two of the hardest environments to play in, over 100,000 people at both games. This is a great team and the best coach to ever do it.“
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
As much as the players seem to be leaning on their coaches, Saban believes the onus for improvement falls upon the players.
”Great players and great competitors rise to the occasion and make the plays they need to make at critical times in the game when your best is needed. Certainly, we need to do a better job of that, and I think it’s a challenge for all of us to have pride.”
Alabama head coach Nick Saban
The Rebels also have pride. Ole Miss is 8-1 with the only loss coming to LSU. After a well-deserved bye week, Ole Miss gets the challenge of playing a rival Saturday, a team the Rebels have not beaten since 2015.
A win over the Tide would mean a lot to Ole Miss, a fact that is not lost on Saban.
“I’m sure they’re going to want to put up on their mantle ‘we beat Alabama’ too,” Saban said Monday.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. and the game will be aired on CBS.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
