Alabama must recover quickly

By Michael Casagrande

Correspondent

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - By late Monday afternoon, the voice of Scott Cochran again echoed through the Alabama football practice complex.

Players stretched as the strength and conditioning coach barked out commands interlaced with rap lyrics and motivational messages. It was like any other Monday for the Crimson Tide program, with one exception.

The ultimate carrot was ripped from the string dangling before the players with their second loss of the season Saturday at LSU. So will they respond with championship-type effort after losing their shot at a repeat national title?

That's the question coach Nick Saban asked rhetorically Monday.

"Am I concerned that this team has the pride and performance to do that?" he said. "I think it's a reality check for them to see how important it is to them, and what they are willing to do to make it happen. I know as a coaching staff we're very committed to doing the things that we need to do to try to make that happen, and we'll work very hard starting today to make that happen."

With 17th-ranked Mississippi State visiting Saturday evening at Bryant-Denny Stadium, there isn't too much time for soul searching now that the Tide are out of the BCS title hunt in November for the first time in three seasons.

The Bulldogs are 7-2 in Dan Mullen's second year as coach, with the losses to top-five teams Auburn and LSU early in the season.

The sting of Alabama's 24-21 loss in Baton Rouge was still very evident Monday.

"It feels like the end of the world," quarterback Greg McElroy said. "It really does. It's disappointing, of course, for all of us, with the aspirations we had coming in for the season. That's why I think expectations, they can become so far out of reach."

Following Alabama's first loss in 19 games on Oct. 9 at South Carolina, McElroy said he didn't want to be alone the Sunday afterward, so he surrounded himself with close friends and teammates. The day following the LSU letdown, he went to the football complex.

"I came to the conclusion that if I was sitting around moping all day, that I'd be mad at myself for letting it get me down, and if I was sitting around happy all day, I'd be mad at myself for blowing it off," McElroy said. "It's one of those situations that we still don't have a lot of experience doing it. Hopefully we'll just try to bounce back this week."

Doing that will mean stopping a vastly improved Mississippi State program coming off a bye week and playing with momentum that Alabama suddenly lacks. The Bulldogs have six straight wins and plenty of emotion following last Tuesday's death of teammate Nick Bell.

For Saban, the postgame message was similar to the one delivered Monday. The players lost sight of their main objective and allowed the outside influences and high expectations to cloud their perspective by focusing on "the result" before considering "the process."

"So the reality check of it all is where do you want to go from here?" Saban said. "I think the real glory of it is, sometimes when you get knocked down, it's your ability to get back up, to overcome adversity, and that's a true test of character. When you play good teams and you don't do things right, you get exposed."

Contact Michael Casagrande at sports@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6273.

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