After a massively disappointing 23-21 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, the Alabama Crimson Tide hardly seems bothered.
Stress? In this economy?
Take that energy elsewhere, because Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard isn’t having any of that chatter.
The season isn’t over yet, but judging by the world’s reaction, you would think that just because the Alabama Crimson Tide fell at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners, that the Tide should be looking towards next season already.
Of course, there’s a standard here in T-Town. That game should’ve been a win and it should’ve been convincing.
Not just because Alabama was playing like one of the better teams in the nation for the better part of the season. And not even because Oklahoma looked quite flat since quarterback John Mateer went down with wrist surgery.
But the numbers were in the Tide’s favor.
Except for one statistic.
Turning the ball over was ultimately the dagger.
Quarterback Ty Simpson has been strip-sacked in five consecutive games, including Saturday. Then he threw an interception, his second of the season.
All season, Simpson has been praised for his ability to protect the ball and limit turnovers, but as of late, that’s been one aspect of his game that has struggled mightily.
But even though there’s only two games left, that timeline feels like an eternity for Alabama.
"We control our own destiny as we said yesterday," Bernard told The Next Round, a local show that he appears on every Monday. "There's still a lot at stake and we're gonna get it done, man. Not stressed at all."
Not even just a little bit?
"That's literally how we lost the game. It wasn't anything because of they did. It was just the little mistakes that we had… We're still optimistic. We still have a great mindset on our hands because we know that we still have everything we want in front of us."
After the Week 1 loss to Florida State, you’d know by now that this program doesn’t back down and feel sorry for itself.
Alabama has been through the SEC gauntlet this season, by facing Georgia, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, LSU and now Oklahoma, all in a row, the best it showed for it was one loss in two and a half months.
“Maybe that’s not exciting enough for some Alabama fans who view the sport through a 2015 lens,” said Yahoo Sports writer Dan Wolken. “Maybe it’s not good enough for Paul Finebaum and other television loudmouths who know that fanning the flames of Alabama fan insecurities will drive viewership and social media engagement. But it kind of has to be good enough.”
Was it good enough? All the numbers outside of the turnovers seemed to suggest that it was.
So if you want to talk about stress, speak to those who actually deal with it on a daily basis.
The Crimson Tide knows how to deal with adversity, and their next opponent is an FCS Eastern Illinois squad in the crosshairs.