A year ago, Nick Saban stepped to the microphone after Alabama football hung 50-plus points on its first opponent. He said while the Tide performed well, there’d be a bigger test moving forward in Week 2 and everyone would need to “pull the load.”

While Saban didn’t use the same phrasing, Monday featured a bit of deja vu.

“This is going to be a good barometer for us to find out where are we as a team,” Saban told reporters before Alabama welcomes No. 11 Texas this Saturday. “… I know it will be an exciting game from a fan’s perspective and we love that atmosphere and environment that they create. But I think one of the things that’s really important for players, is can you stay focused on what you need to do and not get affected by a lot of the external factors.”

The highly-anticipated rematch can be viewed as a de facto benchmark for the 2023 team. The Crimson Tide hopes it fares better than the 2022 squad did. In hindsight, many of the issues that plagued Alabama (1-0) in its one-point victory in Austin remained throughout the fall.

UA committed 15 penalties for 100 yards against the Longhorns a year ago, which at the time was one short of a school record. The flags were a thread in road losses to Tennessee and LSU. Alabama would finish with the fourth-most infractions of any Division-I program and dedicated a portion of the offseason to correct them.

No Alabama receiver had more than five catches — running back Jahmyr Gibbs led with nine catches for 74 yards — as the wideouts struggled to create separation against Texas’ secondary. Bryce Young (213 yards on 27 completions) was forced to extend time in the pocket and play hero ball along with Gibbs.

The Georgia Tech transfer running back would lead the Tide’s most explosive offensive player, and the lack of star power at the skill positions has carried over into this fall, at least for now. The Tide offense also went into a mid-game lull by scoring its opening two drives and totaling 23 yards in its next six series.

Yet, every season is like a “new job” for Saban and it’d be unfair to hold the issues of past squads to the current group. The biggest difference is Alabama’s quarterback position with Jalen Milroe expected to get the nod instead of Young.

Texas returns 16 starters on offense and defense, notably Quinn Ewers, who was hurt in the first quarter after he was rocked by Dallas Turner. Saban said Alabama’s biggest test of its non-conference schedule is an opportunity for self-assessment.

“The players played hard (against MTSU), competed well in the game,” Saban said. “I thought we played more physical, executed fairly well for the most part. But as in all first games, there’s an opportunity to correct things that we didn’t get quite right. … (Texas) is a really good team all the way around, and it’s going to be an opportunity for our team to sort of, you know, where are we as a team? Where are you as a player?”

Alabama should have some questions answered on Saturday.

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