After Alabama's win over USC on Saturday, Nick Saban said simply: We have to get more push from our interior offensive linemen in the running game.

Then on Monday, Saban said the Tide's two tackles, Cam Robinson and Jonah Williams, played well vs. the Trojans. The three interior offensive linemen "need to continue to improve and work," Saban said.

So it's a fair question: Is Alphonse Taylor going to get his spot back as Alabama's starting right guard now that he's served his one-game suspension? No. At least not yet.

While the redshirt senior started every game at right guard last season, he was relegated to working with the second-team offense during the spring due to weight and conditioning issues. He was then consistently with the second-team offense during media viewing periods throughout fall camp.

"He's got to kind of earn his way back, and that may take some time," Saban said of the 6-foot-5, 345-pound Taylor, who was a preseason second-team All-SEC selection.

Taylor's suspension stemmed from his July arrest, when he was charged with driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.

He was recently found not guilty of driving under the influence.

While Alabama ran for 269 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 5.3 yards per carry vs. USC, Tide running backs ran for just 93 yards on 28 carries aside from two long Damien Harris runs.

"There was a little inconsistency there in hand placement, steps, playing with power on a consistent basis," Saban said of the interior offensive linemen -- sophomore left guard Lester Cotton, redshirt junior center Bradley Bozeman and redshirt sophomore right guard Ross Pierschbacher. "But there were also some very encouraging things that these guys did. ... Shank (Taylor) coming back at right guard, where he played before, he's a powerful guy. He's a big guy. That might be helpful to us. He's got to play his way back into it. He's got to beat somebody out now."