TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama football coach Nick Saban thinks it might be time for a reckoning like his father used to deliver with a pounding of his hand on the dinner table.
Sure, Bryce Young threw three touchdown passes and Jase McClellan scored three times Saturday to help fuel the top-ranked Crimson Tide to a 48-14 rout of Mercer, which competes in Division I’s lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision.
But it was still a performance that left plenty for Saban to scowl about and harp on, just as Nick Sr. did at times with his various tasks and chores. Better to learn the lessons from two lopsided wins.
“If you didn’t do any of those things right, you were going to do it again,” Saban said. “We might need a little of that somewhere along the line.”
The Tide (2-0) started sluggishly on offense in what amounted to a warmup game before next weekend’s Southeastern Conference opener at No. 13 Florida, but potentially more notably had star linebacker Will Anderson Jr. leave with a right knee injury. Saban said Anderson status for the next game was questionable.