Alabama had known nothing but success on college football's ultimate stage in recent seasons until January's 35-31 upset loss to Clemson, and it's taken more than just a good night's rest to get past that experience.
"It's something that you think about every now and then," Crimson Tide junior defensive tackle Da'Ron Payne said this past week in a news conference, "but there is nothing we can do about it except work hard and try to get back there this season."
The early stages of coach Nick Saban's 11th season in Tuscaloosa continued Saturday with the third of 15 spring workouts.
Alabama entered Tampa's Raymond James Stadium on Jan. 9 seeking to cap the first 15-0 season in program history. The Crimson Tide had won 13 of their 14 games by double digits, and another such triumph seemed possible when Alabama took a 24-14 lead into the fourth quarter.
Saban's Tide teams had been 97-0 when leading by at least 10 points entering the final 15 minutes, but Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson riddled Alabama's defense for 175 fourth-quarter yards and 21 fourth-quarter points. The Tigers ultimately won on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Watson to Hunter Renfrow with one second remaining.
"The first couple of hours afterward, when I was with my teammates, was pretty tough," junior defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick said, "especially being around the seniors, because it was their last game. I watched the game a couple of times, and then I had to switch my mindset and focus on a new team and a new season. Some guys took longer than others, but everybody learned from the game.
"The biggest thing we learned was execution when we were tired. There were other points during the season when we got tired and didn't execute on defense, and I feel like that is definitely something that we're going to be working on."
Clemson did not apply the first devastating setback of the Saban era - the 2008 Southeastern Conference title-game loss to Florida, the 2013 "Kick Six" loss at Auburn and the 2014 national semifinal defeat to Ohio State also derailed potential Alabama championship runs. Yet it was the closest the Crimson Tide had come to earning another crown before having it snatched away.
Alabama had thumped Texas, LSU and Notre Dame in previous championship matchups under Saban, and the Tide outlasted Clemson 45-40 to win the 2015 national title. A triumph in Tampa would have pulled Saban even with Paul "Bear" Bryant's six career national championships, but the reset button had to be hit on that storyline as well.
"I said after that game that one game doesn't define who you are," Saban said last week. "We won 14 games last year and played a really good team in the championship game and didn't finish it the way we would have liked. I don't think anybody is happy about that."
The Crimson Tide will hold their fourth spring practice Tuesday, which will signify the second week of spring and another week removed from what transpired in Tampa.
"We could have played better," senior center Bradley Bozeman said. "We can say that we could have done this or that, but we lost the game, and we're on to this next year. That is our main focus now."
Tide tidbits
Rain forced Alabama to practice indoors Saturday. Trevon Diggs, who had 11 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown last year as a freshman, continues to work at cornerback. In the portion of Saturday's practice that was open to the media, the tailback pecking order was Damien Harris, Josh Jacobs, Bo Scarbrough and early enrollee Najee Harris, with Scarbrough working in a noncontact jersey.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.