Alabama football coach Travaris Robinson gathered his defensive backs together for a pregame rally before the Tide took on LSU. The best quarterback-wide receiver duo in the country was about to stroll into Bryant-Denny Stadium and UA would find itself in a familiar spotlight: primetime on CBS. As cornerback Terrion Arnold later described it, Robinson’s message was effective.

“‘There’s times in life when you’re best is needed,’” Arnold recalled Robinson saying to the team, “and that was tonight.”

Alabama (8-1, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) took control of a seesaw game in the fourth quarter, putting together an impressive 42-28 win over LSU. It’s hard to make an argument that Week 10 wasn’t the Tide’s best overall performance considering the competition. But, as celebratory as Saturday night was, the season isn’t over. The SEC West is technically still up for grabs, at least for another six days.

The Crimson Tide can find itself back in the SEC championship game for the first time since 2021 should one of two things happen: Alabama beats one of its remaining conference opponents (at Kentucky on Nov. 11, a road Iron Bowl on Nov. 25) or Ole Miss can lose one of its final SEC matchups (at Georgia next Saturday, then the Egg Bowl).

Yet, even at the precipice of Alabama’s 15th appearance in the SEC title game (the most of any program), Nick Saban has been here before. Nothing is settled yet.

“This team has created an opportunity where now they have to make a choice. We’ve had two big games in a row here. We still have two SEC games left, and another game,” Saban said postgame. “We have to make choice to continue to take care of business in the future because we can create an opportunity for ourselves. We can win the West, and maybe be at the SEC Championship game, and who knows what happens from there.”

His players echoed the message. Even after the offense set a record with Jalen Milroe’s four rushing touchdowns, the most of any Tide quarterback in a single game, center Seth McLaughlin saw the effort “very encouraging,” especially with UA allowing two sacks, its fewest since the season-opener on Sept. 2 against Middle Tennessee.

“I think the biggest thing we have to try to do is build and learn and acknowledge we have a lot of season left,” said Milroe. “And with that, it’s going to take a lot of learning moments and acknowledge we’re not a finished product.”

Alabama will look to get one step closer to its finished product and maybe the College Football Playoff next weekend at Kentucky (6-3, 3-3).

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