Alabama defense improved but still not 'great' on third down vs. Gamecocks

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama’s defense had its moments on Saturday.

At other times, issues that have plagued the Crimson Tide of late reared their ugly head.

Alabama struggled to get off the field last week against Vanderbilt, but in the first half of its win over South Carolina, the Gamecocks were 0-for-5 on third down during a 14-12 game. However, Carolina came to life in the second half, particularly on its first drive of the third quarter.

Trailing by two points on the road, the Gamecocks used 16 plays and 8:35 to march 85 yards to take their first lead of the day, 19-14. South Carolina was 5-for-5 on third down on its go-ahead series and 2-for-5 for the rest of the third quarter in its 27-25 road loss at Alabama.

“We can’t have five of them in a drive,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. 

“I think there’s just that desire to find a way to make the play. 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 and distance, and that’s the one where you’ve really gotta get off the football field. 

“And those are hard to convert just from an offensive side, and they did.”

Statistically speaking, Alabama was better this week. South Carolina scored on only four of its 12 offensive possessions and had two series of five or more minutes versus the Tide. A week after not forcing a turnover or recording a sack in Nashville, Alabama was able to generate four of each, including a game-sealing interception on the final play of the contest.

A week after losing on the road at Vanderbilt, the Tide needed to get off the field, and it was able to thanks to four takeaways, three punts and one missed field goal on Saturday afternoon.

South Carolina’s first drive of the second half was more of an outlier than the norm. 

“A lot of the game, I felt like we were doing a solid job,” DeBoer said. “Can’t say we were doing a great job, but that drive, certainly coming out in the second half, set the tone and made it hard for us the rest of the game. So you’ve gotta start a little faster when we come out. 

“We talk about the middle eight – going into the locker room, coming out. They got the ball and then they had those points at the end of the first half. We’ve just gotta do a good job of starting fast in the middle of the game and then obviously finishing. And I think we did some things on both ends, but we’ve gotta do a good job there before we go in the locker room, taking that momentum in.”

The Gamecocks were not able to duplicate the Commodores’ success on third down, but they still kept things tight against Alabama. Did UA see a similar approach from a week ago?

“I think these two offenses we’ve faced are more built to have just drives that continue to have plays stack on top of each other,” DeBoer said. “… I think it fit more of them and the running back, quarterback, guys that just kept moving the chains three yards, four yards, trying to get in those 3rd and 4s, 3rd and 2s, convert slants or something like that just to keep the drive alive. 

“But I can’t say that they are or aren’t (similar), but obviously, it’s frustrating when they can put five third downs together and then it starts wearing on your defense again. They’re out there a long time, and the longer the drive happens, the better chance they have of obviously scoring.”

Alabama’s defense was on the field for 71 plays, which was actually the second-fewest of the 2024 season (67, Western Kentucky). While a sustained drive can impact a defense, it did not lead to any excuses from the Crimson Tide’s defensive players after the game.

“We can’t control how we get on the field, we control how we get off the field,” Alabama defensive lineman Tim Smith said. “Some of those situations, we would have loved to get off the field. It’s just making sure we understand our assignment, our job, what we’ve gotta do and execute it.”

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