Alabama defense unable to stop big plays, get to Ewers in Texas loss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A laundry list of things went wrong for Alabama in its 34-24 loss to Texas on Saturday night. On defense, however, two of the largest issues for the Crimson Tide were the Longhorns’ explosive plays and an inability to pressure quarterback Quinn Ewers.

Texas had eight passing plays that were considered big plays in the official game stats (15-plus yards). All but two of those were 30 or more yards, including Ewers’ first and final touchdowns of the evening (44 and 39 yards, respectively). Alabama head coach Nick Saban repeatedly talked about the plays the Longhorn offense was able to make down the field Saturday.

“All the plays that they made were all explosive plays, and that was the difference,” Saban said. “… They took a lot of shots in the game, and they made them. And we knew they would take shots in the game. They did last year. That’s how they play, and it’s a good way to play. 

“But if you play them correctly, they can turn out to be long, foul balls, too. And we didn’t do that. We didn’t make that happen.”

Ewers threw for 349 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions while completing 24 of his 38 passes (63 percent). His leading receiver was tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, who finished with 114 receiving yards on five catches (22.8), but wide receiver Xavier Worthy tied Sanders with five catches (75 yards, 1 TD) and wideout Adonai Mitchell paced UT in touchdown catches (2) and yards per reception (26). A 50-yard gain from Sanders set up Mitchell’s first score and gave the Longhorns a 20-16 lead early in the fourth it would not relinquish.

Alabama’s secondary faced a difficult matchup against Ewers and his top targets.

“It was a tough task,” said defensive back Malachi Moore. “We know Sark is a great play-caller, and he takes advantage of matchups and things like that. I feel like we’ve just gotta do a better job of knowing how they’re attacking us and everybody just getting on the same page.”

When asked specifically about Ewers, Saban went into detail about the defensive issues.

“We didn’t do a very good job adjusting to some motions,” Saban said. “We made some mental errors, got people in the wrong spots and we didn’t match the patterns. A couple times, we were fine. We had a middle-of-the-field safety. We got pass interference a couple times. They made a good catch one time. Kool-Aid (McKinstry) had the guy covered really well, and (Mitchell) made a really good catch. We were playing quarters, and they had a quarters beater and we didn’t poach the safety. 

“I mean, it’s a lot of technical stuff, but you can’t let people throw the ball over your head if you’re playing the secondary. So we need to get that fixed.”

Ewers had time to throw in front of a raucous Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd. His offensive line kept his jersey clean by not giving up any sacks and only allowed three hurries on the night. As Alabama picks up the pieces after the loss, one point of emphasis for UA defensive coordinator Kevin Steele for the remainder of the season will be to apply more pressure.

“You’ve gotta find a way,” said defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe. “We didn’t find a way. That’s a reason why we lost. It’s not one single thing that you can single in on as the reason why we lost. Come Monday, we’ll look at the game and we’ll figure it out.”

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