Josh Cuevas seemingly throws Alabama coaches under bus for Week 1 loss to FSU

If you’d only watched Alabama‘s opening drive against Florida State and then turned the game off, you likely would’ve been shocked to hear the Seminoles ultimately won by two touchdowns. The Crimson Tide looked like a well-oiled machine on their first offensive series of the season, marching 75 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown.

However, after the drive, Alabama’s offense suddenly sputtered. The team only scored one more touchdown all game, and ultimately fell 31-17. On Tuesday, Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas attempted to explain what changed for the team’s offense after the successful opening drive.

“All I can say is I was out there. We were kind of doing what we were told. That’s not really a question I can really answer,” Cuevas said, per 247Sports‘ Mike Rodak. “It’s more of a Coach Grubb kind of answer. Kind of him calling plays and his rhythm and just how we’re fitting into it.”

Cuevas reeled in a two-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ty Simpson to propel Alabama out to its early 7-0 lead. In total, Cuevas finished the game with three catches for 31 yards.

The game was Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb‘s first with the program. He joined the Crimson Tide this offseason after spending last season as the Seattle Seahawks’ OC.

Grubb has a longstanding relationship with Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer. Most recently before their reunion at Alabama, the pair coached together at Washington, where they reached the national championship game in the 2023 season.

In Alabama’s loss on Saturday, the team amassed 341 total yards of offense. For reference, Alabama’s averaged 410.2 yards per game last season. Just one week into the season, it’s difficult to tell whether Alabama’s shortcomings were self-inflicted or FSU’s defense was really that good.

No matter which is true, one fact remains: Alabama can’t afford a similar outing. Although Josh Cuevas can’t call Alabama’s play, he’s doing his best to prevent the team from having another disappointing outing this weekend. On Tuesday, Cuevas revealed he called a players-only meeting earlier this week.

“That’s just the thing we do — we have players-only meetings before every game, and if we need to, we’ll just call one just kind of out of schedule,” Cuevas said. “Even if it’s in the locker room or something, we bring everybody together and we talk it out. Nobody is uncomfortable to kind of call anybody out or do something like that. That’s just an example of the team culture.”