This is an opinion column.

With college football, emotions run high. Adrenaline pumps.

For example, Alabama’s game with South Carolina over the weekend. Calling it unsightly would be accurate since 27-25 isn’t the kind of score you’d expect for a three-touchdown favorite.

This columnist took it a step further, refusing to call it a win without “quotation marks.” He also called it a performance worse than the previous week’s loss to Vanderbilt in a piece assigned to publish immediately following the game.

Adrenaline was pumping.

As one would expect, the response to these assessments was far from jovial. Social media users were more apt to agree in those high-intensity moments following the numerous failed attempts to put away South Carolina.

But the adrenaline faded, sober minds arrived and they weren’t happy.

Wins always trump losses.

Finding a way matters regardless of how ugly it looks or feels.

Stepping back, perspective on this season of madness is important because our brains have been conditioned to expect certain outcomes that are no longer realistic.

Recalibration is required as the game shifts out of a phase when Alabama’s lined with first-round talent on both sides of the ball.

This isn’t the hurry-up era where teams like Alabama overwhelm outmatched SEC opponents by scoring 40-plus every Saturday with a smothering defense adding to the insult.

The current Crimson Tide has some of the best players in the nation. Just not all, or even the same percentage as the Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones eras. Ryan Williams is an elite receiver but he’s not surrounded by Jerry Jeudy, DeVonta Smith and/or Henry Ruggs like the 2017 recruiting class produced.

Najee Harris isn’t in the backfield; neither is Josh Jacobs. Those teams were machines at times with so much talent hoarded at places like Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and a few others.

The plowed their way to a position of dominance with artistic qualities.

We’re on a different timeline now. Talent is distributed more evenly thanks to changes in roster management rules and financial incentives.

The game’s also being played closer to the pace of say, 2009 than 2015. And that’s fitting since the Crimson Tide team of 15 years ago faced a similar crossroad in the middle part of October.

That was Year 3 of Nick Saban’s tenure and the Crimson Tide offense suddenly didn’t work. This was a team with eventual Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram in the backfield and Julio Jones at receiver.

But over a three-game span, it managed just two total touchdowns.

Two.

A 22-3 win at Ole Miss required five field goals and an Ingram touchdown on a 4th-down toss sweep just before halftime.

A week later, Alabama beat South Carolina 20-6 with two Leigh Tiffin field goals, a 77-yard Mark Barron Pick 6 in the game’s first minute and Ingram carrying the Tide with Wildcat QB runs for the game-sealing TD drive.

And on the Fourth Saturday in October, Alabama won the game remembered for Terrence Cody’s last-second field goal block. What could easily be forgotten was the fact the Tide failed to score a touchdown in 60 football minutes, gaining just 256 offensive yards and winning on four Tiffin field goals.

It was a game similar in ways to last Saturday’s escape against South Carolina since it led the Vols 12-3 until the closing moments. Ingram’s first career fumble set up Tennessee’s only touchdown with 1:19 left, setting up a successful onside kick and the potential 44-yard field goal attempt Cody blocked.

Awfully ugly, but a 12-10 win.

That from a team highlighted by a few future NFL legends but not quite the depth as mid-Saban era teams.

Yet still good enough to win a national championship.

Fortunately for them, they don’t crown titles in the middle of October.

Comparing the 2009 Tide to the 2025 version isn’t not the full idea here, to be clear. The difference in defensive performance, coaching (Kirby Smart was the DC) and intangibles is stark.

But generally speaking, it was a team that had to survive a few October burps to feast in December and January.

There was also a hunger to arrive and not a fear of falling off or the comfort that comes with a decade-plus of being a consistent winner. That last part isn’t me saying it, offensive lineman Tyler Booker did on Monday’s interview with the Next Round.

Like last year, Booker said this 2024 team “took winning for granted.” That’s not the mindset any program can maintain, not in today’s college football. And especially not without a roster built like the machines of 7-8 years ago.

All of that said, every goal remains on Alabama’s plate. The first 1.5 quarters of the Georgia game still happened. This is a team capable of taking a 28-0 lead on the No. 2 team in the nation but it’s also the same one that lost to Vanderbilt and nearly booted one Saturday against South Carolina.

Each of those last three weeks spoke to the wide spectrum of Alabama’s potential and the SEC’s current distribution of talent. Both Vanderbilt and South Carolina, traditionally lower-tier conference teams, have serious talent. Not top to bottom where they’re contending for titles but enough to create havoc on any given weekend.

Alabama’s not dominant enough to steamroll between rivals but style points aren’t required for ring fittings.

That 2009 team recovered from its two-touchdowns-in-three-weeks stumble. That wasn’t necessarily a given after the Tennessee escape.

And clear minds and adrenaline-free fingertips can see this situation with more clarity. This Alabama team still has enough talent to play like the team that took it to Georgia early or the one that ran past Wisconsin.

It doesn’t always have to be pretty and though this group already has a loss the 2009 team never tallied, the 2024 math says the same outcome remains possible.

Just recalibrate expectations.

Undefeated seasons are no longer as important and wins like Saturday’s over South Carolina still count the same as the 47-23 blowout in Columbia from the Tua Years.

They’re over.

But Alabama doesn’t have to be.

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