Nate Oats: Alabama must fix defense to compete for the SEC title

Alabama currently sits atop the standings in the Southeastern Conference with a record of 6-1. However, if their defense doesn’t see some development, Nate Oats is certain that that isn’t where they’ll remain or find themselves by the end of the regular season.

Oats assessed the Crimson Tides’ chances of winning the league during his postgame press conference after their latest, 109-88 victory over LSU this weekend. He started by looking on the bright side and saying that his team will be right there in the race considering where they’re currently positioned as January comes to a close.

“We’re going to be in the mix,” said Oats. “Like, yeah, we’re a half game ahead of Tennessee. It looked like we’d get some help from Vanderbilt through the first half. Then it didn’t quite happen that way. We got a little help from Mississippi State with Auburn.”

“It looks like Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee, and us are up at the top,” Oats said. “Obviously, anybody can make a run. We’re not that far into the season.”

With that said, Oats then turned his attention to the negative regarding the Tide defense. The fact of the matter to him is that they won’t have a chance, or at least not nearly as good of a shot, to win the conference if they don’t start putting more emphasis on the defensive end.

“I do think this is a team that can win it. We’re going after it as hard as we can. But if we don’t fix our defense? Get the main guys in the rotation that are playing heavy minutes to be as concerned with the defense as the offense? It’s going to be really hard to win it,” admitted Oats.

That opinion comes based on how well some of the teams in the SEC are playing on the offensive side of the ball. Oats knows the road ahead isn’t easy for them and will be even more difficult if Alabama can’t get the stops that’ll be required in order to secure the necessary amount of wins.

“We do get Tennessee back at our place. But if we don’t guard better? We’re not going to be able to beat them,” Oats said. “We’ve got to go to Auburn. If we don’t guard better? We’re not going to win a road game at Auburn.”

“There’s some other really good games on this,” continued Oats. “We’ve got to play at Kentucky. If you don’t guard? Their offense is very high-powered. They’re playing really well on the offensive end for the most part.”

Through 20 games this season, Alabama is allowing 75.5 points per game. That includes giving up an average of 88.7 points in their six losses on the season.

It also includes giving up an average of 75 points through six conference games even though they sit with six wins and just one loss. Remove their win over South Carolina where the Gamecocks skewed the number a bit by scoring just 47 overall against the Tide and that average goes up to right around 80 points allowed.

Alabama themselves also has one of the best offenses in the nation that is scoring 89.7 points per game. Still, due to some of the defensive woes, they remain somewhat vulnerable considering they’re letting their opponents score at a similar pace.

That’s why, at this point, the scenario is simple for Oats. If his team grows on defense? They’ll have as good of a shot as anyone of winning the SEC. If his team stays where they are on that end, though? Their hopes of achieving that take a significant, if not deadly, hit.

“Our defense has to get better,” Oats stated. “If our defense gets to where we need it to get? We’ll win a championship. If not? It’s going to be hard pressed to do it.”