Tensions were already simmering.

Then Alabama played Texas and they boiled all the way over — not just in the cheap seats of Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The 34-24 beating on home turf not only continued the chorus of criticism from Crimson Tide football alums but also pushback from within those ranks.

And it’s getting ugly.

These, indeed, are complicated times for a program that has sustained success longer than anyone in recent college football memory. It’s that prolonged stretch of machine-like efficiency that’s slowly turning the vice on a current roster that took its worst home loss in nearly 20 years coming off a season with two heartbreaking losses to archrivals.

Those losses to Tennessee and then LSU last fall drew their share of anger from Nick Saban-era alums. It seemed to ramp up a notch Saturday night and throughout the weekend as former stars such as Bo Scarbrough, Reggie Ragland, Reuben Foster and Marquis Maze let loose on social media. It wasn’t as much about the fact Alabama lost, it’s how they lost and the identity of the program they perceive as slipping.

“Let’s see if we got Pride,” posted Maze, a receiver from 2007-11. “Some of the guys at Bama now don’t have a sense of pride for themselves or the team! That’s the difference in the past couple teams and the Teams that started this dynasty.”

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Bo Scarbrough, a running back from 2015-17, has been at the forefront of his era’s vocal displeasure with today’s player. He even met with Saban last fall and spoke passionately about the mentality teams from his tenure relished making opponents quit. That conversation and others like it, Saban later said on his weekly show “hurts my heart.”

Nearly a year later, Scarbrough was just as disgruntled watching the way Texas did to Alabama what Alabama once did to practically everyone.

“People want to talk about it’s a new generation,” Scarbrough posted on X. “When we got to college we were a new generation but what we did? Carried out the tradition of the school.. It’s a privilege to play for Alabama y’all better get y’all facts right and know the history behind this school.”

But it was a brief clip shared by Ragland, a linebacker from 2012-15, that rallied the most support. It quoted a 4-second clip of middle linebacker Deontae Lawson getting driven into the ground by a Texas offensive lineman captioned “This just broke my heart!!”

Replies came from Eddie Lacy, Kerry Goode, Reuben Foster, Kevin Norwood, Mark Ingram had the same tone.

“Yea dawg this pains me,” Ingram wrote, punctuated with a crying face emoji.

Over in Atlanta, Falcons rookie defensive back DeMarcco Hellams had seen enough — not as much from his former teammates but his fellow alums.

“I could never see myself being an alum and talking bad about current players on social media for some engagement,” Hellams wrote on X. “If you really tapped and want to help you can find a way to get to people offline, all that talk online is corny!”

Contacted by AL.com to expand on his thoughts, Hellams respectfully declined, saying his tweet spoke for itself. Attempts to reach Maze and Ragland were unsuccessful.

Scarbrough, who spent the last two seasons with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL, had something to say about the backlash to the backlash. He added a new post on X on Monday night that didn’t specifically address Hellams but spoke to that point.

“One more thing I’m not scared to tell anyone the truth to their face,” Scarbrough wrote. “… nowadays kids don’t listen they think they know it all, better listen to Saban he’ll take you a long way in life I remember everything he ever said while I was there.. ” attention to detail.”

How’s this being perceived in the locker room this week?

Both cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry and running back Roydell Williams said they haven’t been to dialed into the chatter.

“Me personally, I’m not really big into reading social media or reading what other people post,” McKinstry said. “After a game like that, me personally, I haven’t even really been on social media to see what the media’s been saying, what people have been saying about us, what former players have been saying about us, because to be honest, there is nothing we can do about it, the game’s over with. All we can do is learn from our mistakes and move forward about it and just acknowledge our mistakes, go over it with coach and just move on, be a better team.”

For George Teague, his view on the topic is more nuanced.

He came from the pre-Saban times but was a star on a legendary 1992 Alabama national championship season. He voiced a few public concerns Saturday night about the way Crimson Tide players handled the loss in the immediate aftermath but had a more nuanced look at the disagreement on how program alums should air grievances.

While understanding the heightened importance of social media, Teague said there’s no room for personal attacks.

“We shouldn’t do that,” Teague said in a phone interview with AL.com on Monday night. “We have to find a way to find a solution. Of course we of opinions. I got that. But it’s like locker room talk. I feel like I can call Antonio Langham or any other player at the A-Club and say ‘Hey, man this is what I saw and this is what I think.’ It might be negative but I’m not going to put that out there and say this man is garbage or whatever. That’s inappropriate and shouldn’t happen.”

But the string of social media posts continued into Tuesday, though without calling out individual players.

Maze wrote about coming from “the tough love era” while bemoaning the fact players today are told “constructive criticism is hate.”

“I’m going to say it one last time,” Maze wrote, “for us it’s not about winning and losing a game cause we understand other teams have great players too but it’s about how it’s done in the process of a game, practice, and etc. Some of you newbies wouldn’t understand Roll Tide!”

And it continued Tuesday evening when Scarbrough and Ragland appeared on The Bama Standard podcast along with a few other former Alabama football players. Marvin Constant, a linebacker from 1998-2000 said he’d “never been so hurt watching Alabama football.”

Bottom line, Ragland said, somebody has to step up “and be the bad guy” in the locker room. They need someone who already earned respect and isn’t afraid of speaking their mind. He doesn’t see that now.

“When Rolando (McClain) spoke, you understood what he was saying,” Ragland said. “When I was playing, it was CJ Mosley. I understood what he was saying. I understood what Damien Square was saying. Yeah, they might be yelling but they want the team to be a certain way. Don’t get all offended and get all sensitive on us when cats say something. I’m a softspoken guy, I wasn’t a big yeller but I knew what to say to get you going.

“That’s what leaders do.”

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.