This is an opinion column.

A soul-sucking moment ended Alabama’s last trip to Raymond-James Stadium. The date was Jan. 7, 2017, and a last-second touchdown lifted Clemson over the Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff title game.

Brutal.

By Saturday, that felt nostalgic.

The 2023 Alabama football team looked as far from January football as any point since Nick Saban’s first season in its return to Tampa. The group who returned 2,443 days later took a low point from seven days earlier and grabbed a shovel.

A 17-3 win over South Florida was an offensive disaster befit of late-stage Shula — a win by mathematical measures only.

Even those numbers have the charm of your average Florida Man headline.

This is a USF program that was 5-30 since the beginning of the 2020 season. It’s a team that allowed 41 points at Western Kentucky and 24 in a win last week over FCS team Florida A&M. The Hilltoppers rolled up 540 yards against this defense a week before the Rattlers went for 342.

Alabama managed 310.

It used Quarterbacks 2 and 3 after what seemed like a rough performance from Jalen Milroe that now looks virtuoso level. Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson combined to complete 5 of their first 18 throws before hitting the only big passing play of a bizarre afternoon. They combined to complete 10 of 23 passes (43%) for 107 yards — the fewest for this program in six seasons.

The issues are much deeper than that.

The USF front seven chewed up an Alabama offensive line that talked about playing a new brand of bully ball in 2023. Tide passers were sacked five times — twice on third downs. They were pressured on five other occasions while Alabama had just 110 rushing yards through three quarters before finally wearing them down a spunky USF defense in the fourth.

And it wasn’t all about the opponent.

The unforced errors saw two more touchdowns called back for penalties (four in the past two weeks). Add an interception to that tally when Kool-Aid McKinstry’s turnover came off the board. It was his muffed punt that set up South Florida’s early field goal and 3-0 lead that stood for a few hours.

Alabama didn’t tie it until 2:10 remained before halftime.

Alabama didn’t lead until 4:35 was left in the third quarter.

And Alabama didn’t put it away until 33 seconds remained when Simpson’s 1-yard run supplied the final score.

Again, against a USF program whose last win over an FBS team came Oct. 23, 2021 over Temple.

If this was supposed to be the angry response to a 10-point loss to Texas before opening SEC play, it belly-flopped in the mid-afternoon Tampa rain puddle.

Somewhere Lane Kiffin was smiling thinking about next Saturday’s trip to Tuscaloosa. Beside him was probably Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding who certainly feels some kind of way about a return to Bryant-Denny Stadium.

This Alabama offense managed just 194 yards through three quarters, outgained by the Bulls’ 234. And while there were a few ugly moments defensively, this isn’t on them. The four Alabama sacks were part of a 10 tackle-for-loss performance.

The best player out there Saturday? Probably James Burnip. The punter from Australia averaged 46.1 yards on his eight punts — four which were downed inside the 20 — with a long of 60.

Running back Roydell Williams was a highlight after halftime when he rolled up 124 of his 129 rushing yards against a gassed USF defense. His 48-yard run with 6:29 left was as close this one came to a dagger.

But let’s go back to the 6:54 mark in the third quarter. Tied a 3-3, Simpson twice sacked with an 0-for-4 passing line to that point, hit Maryland transfer tight end CJ Dippre for a 45-yard strike.

It kickstarted the go-ahead touchdown drive.

And it was the only passing play that gained more than 15 yards all day for Alabama.

It was the first of five straight completions for Simpson who ended the day 5-for-9 with 73 yards. That came after Notre Dame transfer Buchner was benched after a 5-for-14 performance. Only one of his completions went for more than 10 yards or a first down.

Nobody looked better than Jalen Milroe, the starter from the first two games who never left the bench Saturday. Certainly, imperfect against Texas but still looks like the best option after cycling the next two contenders through the real-world test.

Nick Saban said he played the quarterbacks who practiced best last week.

He also said he was proud of the way Alabama competed Saturday through adverse conditions.

“We struggled a little bit on offense,” he said in what’s certainly an understatement. “We ran the ball fairly well, much better in the second half than we did in the first. But I’m really proud of our players for the way they competed in the game.”

OK.

“I need to do a better job of getting them ready to play in games like this,” he continued. “We were really flat in the beginning.”

And that’s the weird part.

They’re still talking about playing flat a week after Texas challenged their place in the college football hierarchy. I didn’t expect him to come into the postgame throwing tables or chairs but lacked some of the fire one would expect given everything addressed here.

And yes, in a vacuum, that was a great effort considering they were on the road in a bad-weather game that included a rare in-game delay.

But they were playing South Florida.

And they’re supposed to be Alabama, the monster who fertilizes teams of this caliber. Middle Tennessee State was hardly a speedbump in a 56-7 season-opening exhibition that didn’t disprove any offseason statements from Alabama players who felt like they were wrongfully doubted for the first time in a while.

That wasn’t the case Saturday.

Not against South Florida.

And not on an afternoon that felt a generation or two removed from the night it was a Hunter Renfrow touchdown catch away from the very pinnacle of the sport.

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