The time for Alabama football speculation is over. The Crimson Tide play a real game this Saturday.

No. 4 Alabama starts its 17th season under Nick Saban against the Middle Tennessee. Opposing head coach Rick Stockstill is beginning his 18th campaign with the Blue Raiders.

The last time we saw UA in a game was the 45-20 stomping of Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl, capping off an 11-2 year. The Blue Raiders went 8-5, 4-4 in Conference USA and beat San Diego State in the Hawaii Bowl.

According to BetMGM, Alabama is favored by 39.5 points for the 6:30 p.m. kickoff on SEC Network. But there’s no room for rat poison, especially in Week 1. Offseason questions surrounding the quarterback, what the offense will look like under Tommy Rees and the ascent of a few freshmen set up an interesting opener. Here’s what Saban and co. said about MTSU and what the Blue Raiders said about the Tide.

Nick Saban, Alabama head coach

“Everybody wants to be special, everybody wants to be extraordinary, everybody wants to win. I mean, you could ask any team in the country, ‘Do you wanna be No. 1?’ and everybody would raise their hand. But are you willing to do all the things you need to do accomplish that, get out of your comfort zone, be accountable, have the discipline to do things day in and day out, play in and play out that will make you be able to accomplish and do things at a high level?”

On navigating MTSU’s secondary: “I think there’s a little bit of big-little that goes with this team if you look at the statistics of the way they play. They make a lot of plays on defense when it comes to negative plays that they create, turnovers that they get. But they’ve also given up plays. And I think you’ve got to have lots of patience. You’ve got to have a good plan in terms of trying to minimize how much they can create negative plays but also maximize taking advantage of making some explosive plays.”

Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama defensive back

On getting ready for a pass-heavy offense: “Being a DB, going against a team that throws the ball, it’s something you look forward to, knowing the team is going to throw the ball. Just try to stop them from doing what they do best and make them do something different.”

Deontae Lawson, Alabama linebacker

On starting 2023 season in Tuscaloosa: “Yeah, it’ll be fun to be back in front of your own crowd and get that Bryant-Denny feeling back.”

What the Blue Raiders said about the Tide

MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill on Week 1: “Obviously, we’ve got a tremendous challenge and a tremendous opportunity this week with Alabama. One of the best teams in the country. You know they lose two games last year by a total of four points and everybody thinks, you know, the sky is falling down there. … We expect to play well and just look forward to get down there and start this season off so they got a lot of good players, but we got a lot of good players to believe in our team, and we’ve got to play well. Anytime you play a team like Alabama, top two, three teams in the country. You got to play well. You can’t give them anything. You got to make them learn everything they get. And then we’ve got to play really well.”

On Alabama’s quarterback battle: “I don’t know what to expect. … We’ll prepare which we’ve watched a little bit of all those guys and we’ll prepare for whoever comes out there and that’s all you can do. You can can’t worry about who they’re going to play. What they’re going to do control what we can control. That’s all we can do. So whoever goes out there, schematically is going gonna it’s not gonna be I don’t think it’s going to be a drastic change from you know, ties Simpson to you know, this guy to the other guy, whoever it’s gonna be.”

MTSU quarterback Nick Vattiato on Alabama’s defense: “They’re a well-coached team. They know what they’re doing. You know, rarely do they ever have a busting coverage or you know, a missed assignment. On defense, you know, their front seven are very, they’re strong, they’re fast. They’re very gap controlled, you know, they never get out of their gap.”

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