Alabama put on a strong fourth-quarter performance to pull out the 42-16 win over South Florida on Saturday night inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Alabama football coaching staff announced its players of the week for the game against USF.

Seven different players were selected this week. For the season opener against Western Kentucky, the coaches picked eight players. There was not an “offensive skill player” for the USF game.

Offense Power Player of the Week- OL Tyler Booker

Offense Scout Player of the Week- WR Bubba Hampton

Special Teams Player of the Week- DB Bray Hubbard

Defense Skill Player of the Week- DB Malachi Moore

Defense Power Player of the Week- DL Tim Keenan III

Defense Scout Player of the Week- LB Sterling Dixon

Special Teams Scout Player of the Week- LB Noland Asberry

See also: How to Watch: No. 4 Alabama at Wisconsin; Week 3 College Football TV Schedule

Where Alabama Football Ranks After Week 2

2024 SEC Football Power Rankings: Week 2

Alabama pulled away in the fourth quarter, but Saturday night’s 42-16 win over South Florida was anything but pretty. But head coach Kalen DeBoer is all about the “1-0 mindset,” and on a week where there were multiple upsets around the country, the Crimson Tide did indeed go 1-0 to stay unbeaten early in the 2024 season.

The Crimson Tide stayed at No. 4 in both polls. The SEC has six of the top seven teams in the AP Poll.

Four ranked teams lost over the weekend with the biggest shocker coming in South Bend, Indiana where Northern Illinois knocked off No. 5 Notre Dame. Here’s how things shook out in the polls after two full weeks of college football.

(Ranking, team, first-place votes, points received, record)

1. Georgia (54), 1566, 2-0
2. Texas (4), 1492, 2-0
3. Ohio State (5), 1476, 2-0
4. Alabama, 1331, 2-0
5. Ole Miss, 1323, 2-0
6. Missouri, 1125, 2-0
7. Tennessee, 1107, 2-0
8. Penn State, 1090, 2-0
9. Oregon, 1077, 2-0
10. Miami, 1073, 2-0
11. USC, 1022, 2-0
12. Utah, 1010, 2-0
13. Oklahoma State, 734, 2-0
14. Kansas State, 702, 2-0
15. Oklahoma, 672, 2-0
16. LSU, 521, 1-1
17. Michigan, 503, 1-1
18. Notre Dame, 427, 1-1
19. Louisville, 383, 2-0
20. Arizona, 381, 2-0
21. Iowa State, 309, 2-0
22. Clemson, 292, 1-1
23. Nebraska, 142, 2-0
24. Boston COllege, 116, 2-0
25. Northern Illinois, 114, 2-0

Others receiving votes: Illinois 101, Boise St. 77, Texas A&M 68, Syracuse 63, Memphis 38, Washington 27, Iowa 24, Kansas 22, Vanderbilt 18, South Carolina 10, Liberty 9, Wisconsin 9, UNLV 7, North Carolina 7, California 3, BYU 2, UCF 1, TCU 1.

(Ranking, team, first-place votes, points received, record)

1. Georgia (48), 1296, 2-0
2. Ohio State (3), 1233, 2-0
3. Texas (1), 1213, 2-0
4. Alabama, 1113, 2-0
5. Ole Miss, 1094, 2-0
6. Oregon, 947, 2-0
7. Missouri, 920, 2-0
8. Penn State, 918, 2-0
9. Tennessee, 900, 2-0
10. Utah, 840, 2-0
11. USC, 772, 2-0
12. Miami, 767, 2-0
13. Oklahoma, 677, 2-0
14. Oklahoma State, 567, 2-0
15. Kansas State, 556, 2-0
16. Michigan, 485, 1-1
17. LSU, 392, 1-1
18. Arizona, 386, 2-0
19. Notre Dame, 370, 1-1
20. Clemson, 313, 1-1
21. Louisville, 281, 2-0
22. Washington, 170, 2-0
23. Iowa State, 145, 2-0
24. Nebraska, 91, 2-0
25. Memphis, 85, 2-0

Schools Dropped Out: No. 20 Kansas;No. 21 Iowa;No. 23 North Carolina State

Others Receiving Votes: Texas A&M 68;Boston College 36;Syracuse 33;Illinois 33;Northern Illinois 30;Wisconsin 28;South Carolina 25;UNLV 19;Boise State 18;Iowa 17;Kansas 10;North Carolina State 9;UCF 7;Texas State 7;TCU 6;North Carolina 5;California 5;Liberty 4;Pittsburgh 2;Michigan State 2;BYU 2;Tulane 1;James Madison 1;Indiana 1;

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban showed love to both sides of the ball throughout his 17-year tenure with the Crimson Tide, but it often seemed that defense was slightly closer to his heart. This is mainly due to his experience playing defensive back many many years ago, while also serving as a defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator for several collegiate and NFL teams over the course of 20 years.

The legendary head coach, who won six National Championships at Alabama, earned perhaps the greatest honor in the sports world on Saturday evening as the Crimson Tide’s mecca of a gridiron received a new name: Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

In an entire day honoring Saban, his somewhat preferred phase of the sport also gave him flowers that night, as Alabama’s defense was stout against South Florida’s offense from practically start to finish as the Crimson Tide won 42-16.

Wommack’s Swarm D, which shut out Western Kentucky last Saturday, proved its worth once again, and the players seem to enjoy it. Wommack refers to his 4-2-5 defensive scheme as the “Swarm D.” It’s a physical, fast, aggressive style he wants his defenses to be marked by.

Wommack spent the past three seasons as the head coach at South Alabama and said earlier in the week that one of the things he had missed most and was most looking forward to was calling the defense for Alabama this season. He’s gotten off to a strong start in the first two Saturdays of the season.

South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown gave Alabama’s run defense hell for most of the first half as logged 88 rushing yards on 12 attempts. But some Wommack adjustments and motivation lowered Brown’s pace rapidly declined in the second half as he ran for just 20 yards on 11 carries.

Unlike the run game for Brown, it was all quiet on the passing front in both halves on Saturday night, as the Crimson Tide allowed Brown to complete 15-of-35 attempts (43 percent) for just 103 yards (6.9 yards per completion).

Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan III had one of the best games of his Crimson Tide career as he recorded nine tackles, including 2.5 for loss, and 1.5 sacks (the latter two numbers were team-highs). Keenan who hit Brown more than anyone else opened up about the quarterback’s difference between halves.

“We [had to] get hands on that guy,” Keenan said of Brown, one of the better athletes outside the Power Four and one of the best running quarterbacks in college football period. “Kudos to him. He’s a great player, a great athlete… We did what we had to do. We got the best of him.”

Alabama led South Florida 14-13 entering the fourth quarter. Truly eye-popping. While the Tide defense was stout all night, Keenan and his unit wanted to take it to another level.

“[We had] just the mindset of, don’t get stopped, I gotta get home,” Keenan said. “Pressure makes diamonds… I love moments like that, because everybody looking for somebody to be the play, and it’s like, why not me? So, just being able to have that mindset, I’m gonna make something happen, I’m gonna make a play.”

Linebacker Que Robinson was one of those players making diamonds as he flew around the middle of the field and also USF’s backfield on plenty of occasions, despite his stat sheet not being other-worldly: seven tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss. Robinson attributed the game plan and coaching to his performance as well as the rest of the team’s.

“Credit goes to the staff and defensive coordinator coach Wommack,” Robinson said after the game. “He just calls plays to give us an opportunity. He puts me and my teammates in a situation where we can just go out there and play. We don’t have to think too much and we were able to execute.”

Nevertheless, although Robinson was pleased with his team’s performance in Wommack’s system on Saturday, he explained that it was far from perfect.

“We’re nowhere near where we need to be,” Robinson said. We’ve got to create more turnovers. Effort is a huge part of the game and we’ve got to give more effort. Doing our assignments, being fundamentally sound, getting to those gaps and getting the quarterback off his spot.”

Perhaps the word Robinson used most in the interview, in both a good and bad connotation was “effort.” Robinson said multiple times that he needs to do better and mentioned that “multiple guys were out there were screaming, yelling, telling guys to stay focused and locked in.”

But the main positive that he associated with effort was the defense’s performance on third down. Alabama held Western Kentucky to 3-of-18 on third-down attempts and a somehow even more impressive 2-of-18 against South Florida. Truly remarkable and something to keep in mind for the Crimson Tide defense for the next few weeks.

Many of these third-down stops involved Keenan’s efforts trenches. Robinson detailed that Keenan’s personal-top-tier performance from Saturday was a reflection of the entire team, and it’s been that way for quite some time.

“If Tim’s hype, everybody’s hype,” Robinson said. “He’s that person we feed off of. When he’s out there creating plays it makes everyone else hungry.”

Good coaching, leadership, accountability, effort, high standards, in-game improvement…what else could Saban enjoy in a Wommack-led defense on the day the field is named after him?