Does Alabama find motivation in 2023 near-disaster against USF? 'It's always about us'

The Alabama football team may have lost to Texas and Michigan in 2023, but its worst performance came against South Florida. On the road, with weather conditions that caused both a delay in the game and a nightmare scenario for the ESPN broadcast, where much of the game was shown from an end zone camera, hope seemed lost for the Crimson Tide.

With Tyler Buchner starting at quarterback and Ty Simpson taking over after Jalen Milroe struggled in last week's loss to the Longhorns, Alabama's offense stalled. Fortunately for Alabama, South Florida didn't play particularly well either, and UA came away with a 17-3 victory, adding one of the late touchdowns.

The Crimson Tide used that poor performance to launch a run at the SEC title and the College Football Playoff. But for a while, hope was in short supply.

On Saturday, Alabama will face the Bulls again.

“We’ll see them on Saturday,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said when asked if there was extra motivation for the Tide after the 2023 game. “That’s what we’re preparing for right now.”

It's a completely new era in Tuscaloosa. Nick Saban is retired, he'll be honored before and during Saturday's game, and Kalen DeBoer is in charge.

DeBoer said some players might feel extra motivation for the rematch against the Bulls, but he wasn't using the 2023 game to motivate himself. Offensive guard Tyler Booker also said the Tide “don't want to bring last year back to this year,” but acknowledged the temptation.

“We know how that game went,” Booker said Tuesday. “We know we didn’t play to our level, so we have to make sure we take everybody seriously and treat everybody with respect. Respect everybody, but don’t fear anybody.”

USF will bring a similar group to Saturday's game. Quarterback Byrum Brown returns, as does head coach Alex Golesh, who gave Alabama a run for its money, both with the Bulls and as Tennessee's offensive coordinator for the Volunteers' 2022 win over UA.

South Florida beat Bethune-Cookman to open the season, winning 48-3. The Bulls hope to continue their offensive fireworks against Alabama.

Defensive line coach Freddie Roach, who was on the 2023 staff, stressed the Tide can't take the game lightly.

“They’re a good football team,” Roach said Wednesday. “They showed us that last year. They did a tremendous job. The staff did a tremendous job. We’ve got to step up and make it happen. We’ve got to do what we’re supposed to do to have a chance to be successful.”

Roach was one of two Crimson Tide assistants returning from last season. He was joined on DeBoer's staff by running backs coach Robert Gillespie.

According to Gillespie, coaches didn't have to do much to motivate players last season.

“I don’t think anybody in the program feels like we played at a level that we should have at Alabama, no matter who we play,” Gillespie said. “Obviously, South Florida is a really good team. They do a good job. They’re going to play hard. But we just have to worry about ourselves. It’s always about us, not who we play.”

The game between Alabama and South Florida is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. Central Time Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.