Alabama football will look to stay hot on Saturday, facing South Florida at Bryant-Denny Stadium, one week after UA beat Western Kentucky 63-0 to open the 2024 season. The Bulls scared the Crimson Tide last year in Tampa, and Kalen DeBoer’s group will try and avoid another game that competitive.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. CT. It will be aired on ESPN.

Before the game begins, here are three keys to victory for Alabama.

Shut down the quarterback

Byrum Brown is one of the top quarterbacks in the Group of 5. He might even be one of the best quarterbacks the Crimson Tide will face during the 2024 season.

Alabama has more talent across the board than the Bulls, it’s fairly obvious on paper. Still, Saturday poses an opportunity for reps against a player who can and will torch the Tide if it underestimates his ability.

“I think this quarterback is dynamic with his feet, you saw that a year ago,” defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said Monday. “He can extend plays, particularly in passing downs with his feet. So we’ve got to do a tremendous job of containing him this week, so it’ll be a great challenge for our players and one that we’re all looking forward to preparing for.”

Brown played well against Bethune-Cookman to open the season. He completed 13 of his 20 passes in that game, for 152 yards and rushed for 74 yards and a score.

Obviously the Tide’s defense can play. But stopping Brown could prove a bit more difficult than Western Kentucky’s TJ Finley.

Keep the offense rolling

Alabama’s offense didn’t sustain many drives in last week’s win. The reason: The Crimson Tide didn’t have to.

UA had short drives due to the sheer number of explosive plays. One interesting thing to watch against South Florida will be whether the Tide takes a bit longer to score touchdowns when it gets the ball.

Alabama struggled mightily on offense last season against the Bulls offensively, with sloppy play across the board. That game saw Jalen Milroe benched, Tyler Buchner start at quarterback, with Ty Simpson relieving him.

With the first Power 5 opponent on the schedule for next week, Saturday’s matchup will be about fine-tuning the machine. The Tide can’t afford to have another showing like last year’s if it hopes to maintain the excitement from fans in DeBoer’s first season.

‘Protect our field’

Before Saturday’s game, there’s a rather notable ceremony taking place outside of the stadium. Nick Saban will be in attendance as the gridiron inside in the stadium is renamed Saban Field.

The ceremony is set to take place at 2:30 p.m. CT on the Walk of Champions. Alabama’s players won’t be able to attend due to their standard gameday prep work, but DeBoer said he hoped they’d play a big part in the day’s festivities.

“It’s something that I know we have a lot of respect for and gonna make sure that we continue to do everything we can to make it our house and protect our field from here on out just like it’s been in the 17 years that he was here,” DeBoer said on Monday.

For the Crimson Tide’s players, the best way to honor Saban’s legacy, on the field that will be named after him, is to continue winning games. If that gives Alabama a bit of extra motivation going into the South Florida game, all the better.