Each week, Nick Saban said, Alabama coaches talk through the records of teams with specific turnover ratios. The key is to demonstrate to players the impact that giving or taking the ball has on the fine line between win and loss.

“It’s pretty compelling,” Saban said, “And the players understand it. They understand the value of turning the ball over relative to the other team. What the average turnover in a season allows you to score. And when you get a turnover, what that benfeits you in scoring. These are very important factors that have been emphasized and we just need to do a better job.”

For six weeks, Alabama has been an outlier. The No. 3 Crimson Tide (6-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) rank 115th nationally with a minus-five turnover margin, tied with Kent State and North Texas. Those two teams are a combined 5-7 while Alabama has bounced between dominating teams and unraveling with the lead.

The Crimson Tide came “closer” to its high-level standard following the Vanderbilt win, Saban said. He preached about the lack of intensity during the third quarter at Arkansas. This past weekend against Texas A&M was another mixed back. The Aggies scored 17 points of their 20 points off of Alabama turnovers as the Tide put together “a lot of things that were not winning football.”

Officials have called 49 penalties on Alabama, too, the 8th-most in the country and tops in the SEC. While the defense remains stout, — its the sixth-best unit in terms of points allowed in Division I (12.5 per game) — the “mental errors” have been a struggle and will only be compounded against a trio of ranked opponents in the next month: this Saturday at No. 6 Tennessee, versus No. 16 Mississippi State (Oct. 22) and at No. 9 Ole Miss (Nov. 12).

“We didn’t take advantage of opportunities when we had them, you know, in the last game, and that’s certainly something that’s gonna catch up with you,” Saban said. “Players have to understand you got to do things to keep from losing before you can think about winning, which is, you know, turning the ball over, making mental errors you know, not reading things correctly so that we can execute plays the way they’re designed.”

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The repeated miscues have compounded the issue, letting one lead to the next. After getting caught unprepared for an onside kick against the Razorbacks on a trick onside kick, Alabama’s next possession ended with a snap rolled back to its own 2-yard line. Earlier that game, Bryce Young was sacked for a four-yard loss on third down which led to a 53-yard field goal flying wide right.

Against the Aggies, Milroe was tackled 12 yards behind the line of scrimmage, which resulted in a 47-yard miss. Part of Texas A&M’s comeback was also charged with a handful of penalties. Terrion Arnold was called for a face mask that put the visitors in field goal range. A&M also had a potential game-winning play from the 2-yard line after a pass interference call in the end zone wiped away an interception.

“Everybody’s gotta make a choice and decision,” Saban said following the A&M win. ” … That was not our best football out there tonight. When you don’t have your quarterback playing and the second team guys gotta play, everybody’s gotta play better. Everybody on offense has to play better. Everybody on defense has to play better.”

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].