Greg McElroy, Matt Barrie discuss how perception of Alabama will change this week

Alabama is the talk of the college football world for the second week in a row but under very different circumstances.

Beating Georgia and losing to Vanderbilt in consecutive weeks is something no one saw play out when the Crimson Tide’s schedule was originally released. ESPN hosts Matt Barrie and Greg McElroy, a former Alabama quarterback, broke down their perspectives on the Tide’s misfortune in Week 6 and how they can bounce back against South Carolina on Saturday.

“Everything that we thought we knew about them, at least for me — it’s not that it’s being questioned, it’s that it’s a different Alabama program now,” Barrie told McElroy on Wednesday. “In no world in the history of college football would Nick Saban have allowed Alabama to get the win of the year at home against Georgia, and then a week later lose to Vanderbilt. That wasn’t going to happen. Blaming Kalen DeBoer, I think it’s unfair for everyone to pile on him. It’s just a new era, so that’s what we’ll have to see with Alabama moving forward.

“Here’s what we know about the Tide, they’re wildly talented. The defense leaves a lot to be desired over the last six quarters, but we now know how Alabama reacts after a huge win. We’re about to find out how they react after a big loss.”

Barrie said that immediately losing after the monumental win over Georgia against a team like South Carolina would have been more acceptable than what happened in Nashville over the weekend. He said that the Gamecocks’ massive win over Kentucky — who has a road win over a top 10 Ole Miss team — could justify the outcome.

For McElroy, he posed his argument with a question.

“For Alabama, though, in the event in which they win this game convincingly, let’s say they go out and they beat South Carolina comparable to the way Ole Miss beat them last week. Will the reaction revert back to ‘Oh, Alabama’s the greatest thing since sliced bread,’ or will people still going to kind of gravitate towards the low-hanging fruit that was the Vanderbilt performance?”

Barrie responded by saying a blowout win for Alabama would make the Crimson Tide untrustworthy. Not only can they beat anybody, but they can also lose to anyone as well.

“They’re still gonna be one of the top three to four teams in the SEC but now you know that on any given week, they’re capable of being beat,” Barrie said.

The Crimson Tide’s schedule isn’t letting up anytime soon, either. Even if they take care of business against the Gamecocks on Saturday, they have three straight ranked matchups to worry about after that, including road trips to Tennessee and LSU and a homestand against Missouri sandwiched in between.

For now, they’ll be focused on getting back on track against South Carolina. Kickoff is scheduled for Noon ET live on ESPN.