Whenever there is an upset like Saturday's in Nashville, you naturally wonder how well the losing team trained or prepared.

However, it doesn't sound like that was the cause of No. 1 Alabama football's 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt. Not if you ask the players. Quite the opposite.

“We had a great week of preparation,” guard Tyler Booker said. “They just made more plays than we did. We can’t let them make more plays.”

Linebacker Deontae Lawson said Alabama's energy is high and the players compete against each other in practice.

“We were ready to go,” Lawson said.

But Vanderbilt was better prepared. The Commodores scored on the first drive and then returned the favor with a pick six for a touchdown on Alabama's first drive on offense.

The Crimson Tide's good preparation hasn't panned out, even though Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer has seen positive energy all week.

“I really think our guys prepared hard,” DeBoer said.

The Crimson Tide even anticipated the trap game nature of the matchup. So much so that some employees set up rat traps around the Alabama facility last week.

However, the message did not seem to have been received.

“We just bit the cheese,” linebacker Que Robinson said. “We fell for Vandy… They came out guns blazing. We picked it up a little later, towards the end of the second quarter. They just came out hot.”