Tyler Booker: Alabama ‘took winning for granted’ vs. Texas

One of the biggest games of Week 2 — and the college football season as a whole, for that matter — took place at Bryant Denny Stadium on Sept. 9. Alabama took on Texas in a rematch of last year’s thriller, and there were plenty of storylines.

The Longhorns came up short at home last year, but they repaid the favor in grand fashion with a 34-24 victory in Tuscaloosa. It was a huge performance from the Texas offense, and there are now some questions at Alabama as the Crimson Tide look to bounce back.

As for what went wrong, Alabama lineman Tyler Booker said while the Tide brought energy and focus with them into the game, it might not have been enough against a tough Longhorns team.

“I feel like we just, we took winning for granted like we did last year,” Booker said on The Next Round. “We beat Middle Tennessee and we just had to bring a different energy level and bring a different level of focus. There was energy and there was focus. But it just wasn’t where it needed to be.”

Last year’s game in Austin was one for the books as Alabama pulled off a thrilling 20-19 victory. This time around, the Crimson Tide traded blows with the Longhorns to keep pace. At one point, the two teams combined to score five times in six drives. The lone outlider was a Jalen Milroe interception which helped set up a touchdown. That put Texas ahead by two scores in the fourth quarter, and the Longhorns went on to win by double digits.

Milroe maintained his confidence as the game went along, he said afterward. Nick Saban was asked about that, as well, and said being confident key to bouncing back. The entire team has to believe and have a positive mentality, and he noted that in his response.

“I think it’s important at all positions,” Saban said. “The one thing you don’t want to do is get frustrated as a player, you don’t want one play to affect the next play and to stay positive. But you can say stay positive, but we all have self-talk right? But you gotta believe it, you can’t just say okay I’m going to do this but don’t believe you can do it. You gotta believe and trust in yourself too.”

Alabama will look to bounce back from the loss this week when the Tide head to South Florida.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this report.

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