The prep for halftime starts the moment the ball is snapped in the first quarter. In order for Alabama football coaches to show players key plays from the first half, a staffer details every concept on a template. Then, according to Nick Saban, coaches formulate an offensive plan.

The process is streamlined, built for quick translations in the 20-minute break teams are afforded. And in the majority of the 2023 season, the Crimson Tide has maximized the intermission to great results.

“I would say it just comes from regrouping when it comes to halftime,” senior Malachi Moore said. “Sometimes, we feel like we’re not playing our best, or the offense gives us some crazy looks we might not have seen before. So we just fix those things.”

Excluding sloppy wins over Mississippi State and Arkansas, Alabama is dominating opponents in the second half, often by necessity to either win a slugfest (against LSU) or mount a rally (Ole Miss and Tennessee). The Crimson Tide has outscored opponents 108-35 in the latter halves of its seven-game winning streak, dating back to Week 3 against USF.

No. 8 Alabama’s (8-1, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) plus-73 differential in that time span is more than No. 2 Georgia’s (+66), No. 4 Florida State’s (+65) and No. 5 Washington’s (+4) margins. It’s a sign of a team fulfilling Saban’s goal of weekly improvement as well as a data point that supports Alabama in the impending College Football Playoff debate.

“We all contribute to trying to make adjustments in the games. (Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele) has done a really good job,” said Saban on Monday. “He’s in the box, so he has a really good perspective of what we didn’t do correctly, what we need to fix, what’s not working, what might work better. But I think we also do a great job on the sidelines of showing the players the series before.”

In some cases, Alabama can pick up a tendency the opposing team is showing. Against South Florida on Sept. 16, quarterback Byrum Brown’s running ability (92 yards) was the Bulls’ main source of offense. He was able to pick up first downs and rip off a 31-yard gain as the Tide went into the break tied at 3.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Brown was stuffed for just 4 yards total on the ground. The difference? According to defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe, the Tide realized when Brown rolled left he kept his right hand raised, as if he were still looking for a target downfield. When Brown darted to his right, the hand was down, allowing Tide defenders to break on the ball freely.

In other cases, Alabama is recognizing things on the fly. Players told each other in the Bryant-Denny Stadium locker room, trailing Ole Miss 7-6 a week later, it was going to be a dog fight. After, cornerback Terrion Arnold recognized a receiver’s presnap motion from a play head coach Lane Kiffin called in the first half.

“When they ran that same route, I kind of like hesitated on it,” Arnold said after the 18-3 second-half rally, ” … In my head, I’m thinking ‘OK, key alignment, cash car, you know what’s coming.’ So (quarterback Jaxson Dart) took it, launched it, I said, ‘Oh, OK.’ After that, it felt like Madden.”

Alabama hasn’t been perfect out of the break. It was outscored by Texas 21-18 — a disheartening home loss that could come into play on Selection Sunday — and let Arkansas mount a 15-3 comeback that had Saban fuming postgame. But when Alabama trailed 20-7 at intermission a week later against Tennessee, Maachi Moore reminded teammates they were “built for situations like this.”

Getting the ball first, Alabama got to midfield with a 29-yard run. Then, it took a shot downfield to Isaiah Bond for a 54-yard touchdown. The sequence was laid out by coaches during the break.

“You’ve got a choice to make. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to do? Everybody’s got to choose what they want,” Saban recalled telling the team at halftime.

The system continued to work against LSU. In the middle of a shootout tied at 21, Steele took the pressure off Saban’s need to scream, which had busted blood vessels in his eye, by ripping into the players himself. Arnold joked with reporters postgame if he repeated Steele’s message, “they wouldn’t let me do media anymore.”

Whatever was said, or yelled, it worked. After Tigers’ quarterback Jayden Daniels ran for 137 rushing yards (of his 163 total), Alabama pressured the pocket more and conceded by playing man-to-man defense against one of the best pass-catching groups in the country. That worked as well and the Tide held the Tigers to seven points in the final 30 minutes, meanwhile scoring 21.

“I think we go in, Coach Saban gives us a good halftime speech, tells us what he expects, tells us what we need to do in the second half to win the ball game,” senior Seth McLaughlin said. “That’s been consistent since I’ve gotten here.”

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