Alabama fans are asking a question that’s not uncommon across fan bases nationally: What and who is our team at the midway point in the year? More specifically to Alabama, the chaotic last few weeks beg this question: What’s the bigger issue — coaching or player execution? The final minute of the first half against South Carolina shows there’s plenty of room for both sides to take accountability.
Momentum was slipping away after a South Carolina touchdown and safety cut a comfortable 14-0 Crimson Tide lead to 14-9. But Jihaad Campbell’s forced fumble gave Alabama’s offense the ball at its 47-yard line with 47 seconds left and two timeouts. It’s a prime opportunity to get momentum back before halftime, but disaster ensues.
Alabama goes empty set on first down, a look that’s yielded positive results lately. The idea was to spread South Carolina out and run Jalen Milroe up the middle. Instead, the Gamecocks’ Kyle Kennard collapsed the pocket from the right side for a tackle for loss. Questionable call? Maybe, but Milroe runs have been money all year. It wasn’t well blocked and once again Alabama’s staff did not have a plan to neutralize Kennard, who had two sacks already by this point.
Alabama calls a timeout with 44 seconds left and attempts to pass downfield on second down. The play, a sack, was unquestionably a lack of player execution. Jaeden Roberts gets beat one-on-one, running back Justice Haynes whiffs as well and now it’s third-and-20.
The sack occurs with 39 seconds left and all momentum is gone. South Carolina, which had three timeouts, didn’t try to stop the clock and was content letting it run down. It felt like a moment where Alabama should’ve gone to halftime and regrouped. Instead, coach Kalen DeBoer allows the clock to run down to 11 seconds and then calls a timeout to run another play. What happens next: an interception that’s returned inside the red zone to set up the field goal to cut the lead down to 14-12.
To be fair, Milroe threw an inaccurate ball with a clean pocket.
“I’m thinking, ‘If we can get one play to where we can throw it in the end zone on fourth down, and the clock ends with us having the football, I’m all for it’,” DeBoer explained postgame. “Worst-case scenario, you take a sack or something, you have to punt it. I don’t like punting, really, anytime. But that was, to me, the worst-case scenario.
“But I guess I’m always just aggressive that way. You try to weigh the risk-reward and put the trust in the guys.”
There were debatable plays too — mainly Germie Bernard intentionally not scoring on his touchdown reception that calls the team’s situational awareness and execution into question. Alabama beat South Carolina 27-25 — and a win is the most important thing — but there’s a ton of work to do ahead of Saturday’s trip to No. 11 Tennessee.
This week’s Alabama film study dives into the highs and lows against South Carolina and weighs the impact of coaching decisions versus player execution.
Offense
Alabama’s offensive line particularly struggled in the first half on Saturday, largely due to a lack of containing Kennard, who led the SEC in sacks entering the game. This is Kennard’s first sack — both Kadyn Proctor and Tyler Booker take the inside man, Kennard’s untouched and gets an easy sack. Later in the half, he recorded another sack untouched off the right side when he wasn’t picked up by Elijah Pritchett.
On Milroe’s safety, offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan attempts to chip Kennard to slow him down but it’s poorly executed. Tight end Josh Cuevas does little to slow Kennard’s momentum, Pritchett is slow getting over and because Milroe feels pressure coming from the left, he floats to the right and into Kennard’s pathway.
Ironically, both of Milroe’s interceptions were within clean pockets. This is an example of a good play call but bad execution. Bernard is coming across the end zone open, but Milroe throws off his back foot instead of driving the ball. The lack of velocity allows for the defender to get under it and force the turnover.
Before South Carolina’s late first-half flurry, Alabama showed a commitment to running the ball, which was a positive sign. Alabama’s second touchdown drive was six plays (five runs) that averaged 11.4 yards per rush. Getting the downhill run game going, then using Milroe off that (which you’ll see below) to put the defense in conflict is the key to keeping Alabama’s offense balanced and explosive.
Alabama tried to commit to the run in the second half, but couldn’t generate enough push to sustain anything. The offense rushed 17 times for just 54 yards. Of those plays, running backs Jam Miller and Haynes carried nine times for 28 yards, while Milroe ran eight times for 26 yards. But, notably, both running backs had more carries than normal — Miller reached double-digit carries for the second time this season while Haynes carried eight times (season average: five).
Defense
Starting with the good — defensive coordinator Kane Wommack made a good adjustment by dialing up more pressures like he did against Georgia. On average, Alabama blitzes 12.2 percent of the time, one of the lowest rates nationally. Against South Carolina, it blitzed 26.8 percent of the time, contributing to a 48.8 percent pressure rate on dropbacks. The Crimson Tide forced South Carolina to get the ball out quickly in key moments, like this fourth down that led to a forced fumble. Overall, the pass rush was really good on Saturday, particularly LT Overton and Tim Smith.
Now to the bad: third down defense was an issue again, mostly on South Carolina’s opening second-half touchdown drive. Here are two conversions: one coaching mistake and one player execution mistake.
On this third-and-15, Wommack elects to drop eight into coverage. All eyes are on the quarterback except for No. 15 Justin Jefferson who gets lost with his head turned, allowing South Carolina to find the soft spot in the zone and convert.
This conversion is on Wommack. Shovel passes badly hurt Alabama last week against Vanderbilt. South Carolina saw that on tape and went to Alabama with one of their own, to great success. Alabama’s defense, like last week, is unprepared and out of position and allows a big gain. That’s not the week-over-week improvement you’d expect to see.
One major thing that falls on the players is the fact that missed tackles are a growing issue. Alabama missed a season-high 11 tackles Saturday. The defensive line gets blocked down on this play. And although Deontae Lawson is in position to prevent a big run, he whiffs, leading to an explosive play.
It was not the greatest day for the defense this season but certainly not the worst. And you’ll take four forced turnovers every Saturday.
Special teams
There’s only one way to say it — something has to change about Alabama’s special teams play. Knowing the pedigree of coach Shane Beamer on special teams, what happened on Saturday was disappointing.
Saturday marked the third straight week that Alabama’s muffed or fumbled a kickoff return. Emmanuel Henderson fumbled last week at Vanderbilt and fumbled again on Saturday (fortunately neither resulted in a turnover). At this point, that position is unsettled at best. And the safety in the second quarter was set up by a personal foul on the kickoff return for a late hit.
But no special teams error was bigger than the missed onside recovery in which Alabama’s “hands” team featured defenders Jah-Marien Latham and Lawson and tight ends Cuevas and Robbie Ouzts, among others. Wide receivers Kendrick Law and Kobe Prentice were out with injuries, and perhaps you’d like bigger bodies with how physical onside kicks can be, but to see multiple Alabama players whiff on the recovery is enough evidence to try and find a new combination of players.
(Photo: Will McLelland / Imagn Images)
