[Bamabeachlivin]

The University of Alabama football team came home from Jacksonville with something it never expected to bring home on Saturday night.
It’s not the 21-14 loss to Florida State that comprised the unexpected baggage. Defeat is always a possibility against a team with quality athletes and that is a commodity the Seminoles possess in abundance. Alabama could have played better and not managed to win, under the circumstances.
That doesn’t mean that it is pleasant for Alabama to have another in a long string of disappointing losses — a string that predates coach Nick Saban’s hiring by several years. It stings for the Crimson Tide, and it stings more because Florida State, an excellent defensive team, also had areas, especially on offense, that could have been exploited.
So bringing a loss back to Tuscaloosa is a disappointment, but not a shocking one.
But Alabama is bringing back something else: an identity crisis.
That’s what no one really expected. Realistic observers didn’t actually expect that Alabama would end the season — or even the month of September — without a blemish. But what was expected — and Saban made it clear on Saturday night that he was one of the ones expecting it — was that Alabama would be a tough, disciplined football team. The other team might be better, that thinking went, but the other team wouldn’t be tougher — not physically, not mentally.
Florida State was both on Saturday night.
“FSU out-physicaled us,” Saban said. “They out-toughed us. This was the first game where I felt like the other team was more physical than us in terms of controlling the line of scrimmage. You [media] are going to ask a lot of questions, but the difference in the game was their mental and physical toughness.”
Alabama never had a lead. At no point did the Crimson Tide seem to control its own destiny. It responded to FSU on an occasion or two — but it never dictated the action.
The Crimson Tide spent most of the first half in a desperate bid to improve field position, never really threatening to score. In fact, the offense was never productive until it went into two-minute mode. Oddly enough, it is only when Alabama is at its most frenzied that John Parker Wilson seems to find any sort of comfort zone. Faced with any sort of standard situation on Saturday, Wilson seemed out of sorts.
That’s not to lay all the blame for Alabama’s offensive ineffectiveness at Wilson’s feet. As Saban pointed out, it’s not the quarterback’s fault when the opposing defense controls the line of scrimmage. Wilson has had his struggles — and Saban indicated that those problems would be thoroughly evaluated this week — but he can’t block for himself, or make much out of situations when others don’t block.
The identity crisis, or the toughness deficit, or whatever you want to call, didn’t take long to appear. It was apparent from Alabama’s first series. Florida State jumped offside on the very first play of the game, giving Alabama a first-and-5. Terry Grant rushed for 3 yards, making it second-and-2. Now, this isn’t second-guessing the UA play-calling, because sometimes a defense dictates what a team does. But Alabama didn’t really challenge the FSU defense physically at that point, throwing (and failing) on two pass plays and punting the ball away without having managed even one first down to tilt the balance of field position. That situation prevailed through the first half. Alabama managed to come out even at 0-0, but a tone had been set.
In the second half, there were critical, glaring errors: the lack of defensive intensity on the first FSU drive, Wilson’s ill-advised scramble and subsequent fumble on a third-and-15 situation inside the Alabama 10-yard line, and Marquis Johnson’s missed tackle that turned into a 70-yard touchdown. But there were other nagging problems as well, like the illegal procedure call (followed by a sack) that ended Alabama’s first decent drive and scoring chance in the third quarter.
Saban identified the source of the penalty as a lack of mental toughness. Again, that’s a direct reflection of what Saban called the “lack of identity.” Physical ability has its limitations. Mental toughness is limited only by the concentration and preparation of the individual involved.
How will Alabama acquire an identity? There will be calls for all sorts of changes and modifications in the wake of Saturday’s loss. Saban seemed more inclined to redouble the effort to, in his words, “do what we do” and to execute those things more effectively. He took full responsibility for making that happen.
The September gantlet, as it was called, is over. Alabama has three wins and two losses, not good but, maybe, not unexpected. But it does seem less sure of itself after the fifth Saturday in September than it did after the first — and that wasn’t what was expected.

[Tuck4Bama]

After watching the post game interview and reading his statements, it all goes back to 100% effort on every play.

[Stoney]

I'll say it goes back to preparation or the lack there of.... especially on the offensive side of the ball. Example:

3rd and 7 and the reciever runs a 5yd slant route. Why not run 10 yds get to the first down marker then make a slant? That just frustrates all the fans.