The Alabama football program is in uncharted territory, losing two games before November for the first time since 2007 in the first year of Kalen DeBoer's tenure taking over for Nick Saban, and two-time national championship quarterback AJ McCarron spoke on the standard changing for the Crimson Tide after the coaching transition.

“I think, for sure, the standard that everybody was used to for so long after Alabama fans went through a bunch of hell leading up to those glorious years, I think it's definitely a different era,” AJ McCarron said, via Mike Rodak of Bama247. “I don't think you'll see the same standard from discipline, just things that the team seems to do. It's a new day and age.”

It is not a surprising thing that Alabama football is not quite up to the standard that it had during Saban's tenure, as he might be the best college coach we have seen. There will be no other like him. Still, it is disappointing for Alabama to lose games to Vanderbilt and Tennessee after the euphoric win over Georgia.

AJ McCarron rants on the new age of college sports impacting Alabama football

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There is a specific reason that McCarron believes the standard for Alabama football has fallen, and it has to do with social media, NIL and the transfer portal.

“Everybody worried about f***ing TikTok and having a reel and being on highlights for their personal self and personal gain, and how much money they can get from NIL,” McCarron said. “We just didn't have that s*** back then. It was a team sport. You came together as a team because you had one common goal, because you knew that's how you were going to make your money, was by winning. Winning attracts people to that program, it attracts scouts, it attracts GMs, it attracts ownership to allow yourself that opportunity to go make yourself a lot of money and change your family tree for a long period of time. … You can just ell. It's not the same. I would think Bama fans should get used to that in a way of, hey, it's not gonna be what you knew from 2008 up until last year where there was just a certain standard. That's not a knock on the coaching staff or a knock on anybody. It's just a different era. I think it's something that they're going to have to buckle up if they're not ready for it.”

College sports are certainly different from when McCarron played, but other programs are still finding success. It is on DeBoer to figure out how to get Alabama back atop the college football world in this landscape.