Kalen DeBoer talks Alabama football’s defensive 3rd down issues

It was like watching a replay of Alabama football’s loss to Vanderbilt at times on Saturday. The Crimson Tide beat South Carolina 27-25 in Tuscaloosa, but still, its defense had trouble getting off the field.

Overall, the Gamecocks converted seven of their 15 third downs. However, the second half numbers looked worse, with USC making first downs on seven of 10 tries, with most of them coming on a long drive to start the third quarter.

“We can’t have five of them in a drive, right? And I think there’s just a desire to find a way to make the play,” DeBoer said. “I’ll watch the film, and we’ll all understand what happened on a lot of those. They were in some good situations on some.

“I remember the ball they caught over the middle was advantageous for us, as far as the down, the distance. And that’s the one we really got to get off the football field. And those are hard to convert, just from an offensive side, and they did.”

The drive, which ended in a touchdown that put the Gamecocks ahead, took a lot out of the Alabama defense, going 16 plays and 85 yards to take 8:35 off the game clock. However, the group recovered, at least enough to get out of Bryant-Denny Stadium with a win.

Alabama moved to 5-1 with Saturday’s win, reaching the halfway point of the 2024 season. It currently sits 2-1 in SEC play.

The Crimson Tide will be back in action next week, facing Tennessee in Knoxville.