TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If you didn’t know the whole story while watching Alabama’s 38-14 decimation of Wisconsin on Saturday, you’d think the Tide hasn’t missed a beat in its transition out of the Nick Saban era. Quarterback Ty Simpson looked as comfortable in the pocket as he would on a front-porch swing, effortlessly targeting Alabama receivers.
But this is Alabama, where excellence is table stakes. A 24-point win when you’re favored by 20 coming in is simply expected, nothing more. Alabama fulfilled the second half of its home-and-home with Wisconsin following last year’s 42-10 thrashing, and the theatrics involved in this victory might — might — cool Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer’s seat just a touch.
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Saturday served as a showcase for Alabama’s best self, an offensive explosion and defensive shutdown that might — again, might — mark the Florida State game as an aberration rather than a harbinger of the Tide’s future.
“Everything we do has purpose, and so moving with purpose,” DeBoer said after the game. “The guys have an energy right now that’s becoming contagious. They see and are reaping the rewards of it. They see what we’re capable of. They know we’re still so far from being where we need to be, but we’ve taken a couple steps here the last two weeks.”
Simpson was simply spectacular, carving up the Badgers for 382 yards and four touchdowns. When he has room to operate, Simpson can throw a key into a keyhole, and his line gave him all the time he needed to find Alabama’s receivers, all afternoon:
Ryan Williams, the wunderkind of 2024 who’s now an aged 18 years old, returned from a one-game concussion layoff to break off a massive touchdown out of some backfield trickeration on the first play of the second half:
Williams then pulled some sideline magic reminiscent of his TD score against Georgia last year, juking Wisconsin defenders into the shadow realm and running 41 yards for another touchdown.
“Some of those deep sideline throws, those aren’t the easiest,” DeBoer said. “They worked extremely hard on those. We were very intentional on making sure the timing of those routes were good, all week long in practice, and they went out and executed.”
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Williams led all receivers with 165 yards on five receptions and two touchdowns. For Alabama, Germie Bernard added one touchdown on the ground and another through the air, and Isaiah Horton also caught a touchdown among his five receptions.
On the other side of the ball, the Alabama defense smothered Wisconsin, holding the Badgers to 92 net yards rushing and 117 yards in the air. Alabama safety Bray Hubbard snuffed out two drives by himself, snaring two touchdowns that virtually hit him in the numbers:
Wisconsin’s only touchdown through the first three quarters came on an Alabama special-teams breakdown, as the Badgers’ Vinny Anthony II ran back a kickoff to cut the score to 28-7. For the Badgers, this is yet another frustrating afternoon in the disappointing Luke Fickell era. Wisconsin fell from seven wins in Fickell’s first full season to five last year, and the Badgers (2-1) still have Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Indiana and Illinois on their schedule.
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For Alabama, this game represented a chance to further distance themselves from the season-opening debacle in Tallahassee. “[After] our first week [the upset loss to Florida State], we kind of had to self-reflect, and we’re like, ‘Hey, what are we gonna do now,'” Simpson said. “We’ve been really, really intentional these last couple weeks of practice. And now we’ve just got to keep it going, right? We’ve got a tough couple games, a stretch coming up. And we’ve got to be more intentional than we ever have been.”
[Get more Crimson Tide football news: Alabama team feed]
Alabama did let off the gas in the fourth quarter, with drops and penalties putting a slight dent on the finish of an otherwise perfect game. “I’d love to see us do a much better job of the fourth quarter, just finishing,” DeBoer said, citing drops like the would-be TD that Williams couldn’t secure in the end zone. “We’ve just got to take care of those things, because those are things that can kill you in a tight game.”
Still, the strong across-the-board performance will surely help DeBoer’s standing in the eyes of ever-critical Tide fans. DeBoer’s original sin, one that will shadow him unless and until he gets a statue of his own outside the stadium, is the fact that he isn’t Bear Bryant or Saban. Where Bryant wore a fedora on the sidelines, DeBoer sports a crimson baseball cap. Where Saban frothed, stormed and unleashed torrents of obscenities, DeBoer tends to stand stoically, his arms folded across his black Alabama hoodie.
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Both those elements of DeBoer’s persona — his wardrobe and his demeanor — have drawn the rage of longtime Alabama fans. But even the crustiest old Bryant disciple had to admit that Saturday was an effective demonstration of Alabama’s potential.
Whether Alabama’s potential is enough to get it back into the playoff conversation is an open question. The Tide’s next test will be as tough as it gets — a road trip to Athens to face Georgia in two weeks.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what anyone else says about us,” Williams said. “We just focus on playing for each other and playing at a high level because as long as we play for each other, I mean, you see what happens.”
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