Alabama is going back to basics in an attempt to rescue its College Football Playoff chances after a disastrous stretch for the Crimson Tide.

Kalen Deboer’s team made a stellar start to the season, toppling Georgia 41-34 in Week 4 to claim top spot in the AP Top-25 Poll, but things have gone off the rails ever since. The Tide were stunned by Vanderbilt in Nashville a week later before surviving a huge scare against South Carolina to get back to winning ways.

But a 24-17 defeat to Tennessee has left Bama with a 5-2 record, being ranked No. 15 in the nation with their playoff hopes hanging on by a thread. Back-to-back games against ranked opponents Mizzou and LSU starting Saturday give Deboer and his players a chance to change the narrative, and they are leaving nothing to chance – focusing on the most granular details to get back in the win column.

Tight end C.J. Dippre said the Tide are “Just taking pride in the small things” in preparation for Saturday’s visit of Mizzou to Tuscaloosa, admitting standards of appearance and timekeeping had slipped at the team facility. The senior explained: “We got to just kind of take details and the small things. Don’t get bored with the basics. Get back to what we’re supposed to wear – shirts tucked in, five minutes, 10 minutes early to meetings. Not all this late stuff. Not doing what you want to do.

“Just little things like that carry over to the football field. Because then if you take one wrong step, one wrong thing, it just all carries over. So you got to act everything, all throughout the day. Going to class on time. Everything is like would want to do on the football field.”

CJ Dippre says the Tide have focused on raising basic standards in hope of returning to form on the field

CJ Dippre says the Tide have focused on raising basic standards in hope of returning to form on the field ( 

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John Fisher/Getty Images)

Dippre added that the team has installed “T.N.T” signs at the facility, which stands for “Takes no talent” and are an attempt to keep standards high on and off the field.

“You make a mistake on a play, you get a flag, anything. Just takes no talent,” he said. “Run to the sign, touch the sign. We got to back into that. Just accepting ownership and stuff. We got to own up to it, accept it, flush and go 1-0 the next play.”

Wide receiver Germie Bernard says “discipline” on the field has been a focus for the Tide with their playoff hopes on the brink. “[Coach Kalen DeBoer] knows that we have to do better,” he told reporters.

“He’s just gonna continue to instill in us the things that we need to do to be better, and to be better in practice. Be better off the field. Be more disciplined with the things we need off the field, like just making sure we’re checking in on time, making sure we’re getting to meetings on time. Things like that. With the mindset that he has, our team — we still have everything in front of us that we want. I think we will accomplish that.”

“Just be more disciplined in practice. Hone in on the small details within the playbook. Work hard, executing. The off the field work, just continuing to lift hard, continue to recover right, continue to hydrate right. Continue to put the right things in your body with nutrition. When he talks about those things, those are the key components that we have to hone in on to be better.”