Kalen DeBoer explains decision making behind Alabama's late-game touchdown

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Third down, 10 yards to go. Alabama ball on the South Carolina 34-yard-line. Exactly two minutes on the clock. Zero South Carolina timeouts left. Alabama leading 20-19.

That’s the situation Alabama found itself in against South Carolina late in the game on Saturday afternoon. In that situation, there are a lot of options.

With the Gamecocks out of timeouts, Alabama could choose to run the ball again. It likely wouldn’t result in a first down, but it would get the clock moving, and South Carolina couldn’t stop it. Alabama could run just under a minute off the clock, setting up a field goal. If that hypothetical field goal try was good, South Carolina would have the ball back down four points with just over a minute to play.

Then, there’s the option to throw the ball, a little more risky of a proposition. If the pass is incomplete, it sets up a longer field goal attempt, and also stops the clock, giving South Carolina even more time on its final possession. But, if there’s a first down, Alabama can run out the clock by taking three kneel downs and end the game.

“We knew he had to get the first down,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Really with how much time was on the clock, they didn’t the timeouts, so there is a risk-reward on those calls. We were right over the edge of what it would take to kick a field goal. Field goal makes it different as far as what they’ve got to score. Lot of components, a lot of things that are involved in what we’re trying to do. There were a lot of safe avenues and things that we discussed on that play, and they were aggressive in trying to play a lot of those.”

What happened was a completely different third option. Quarterback Jalen Milroe dropped back to pass, looking to get the first down, and connected with wide receiver Germie Bernard for not just a first down, but a 34-yard touchdown. The touchdown extended Alabama’s lead, but the lead stayed one possession, with the score becoming 27-19.

That gave South Carolina the ball back, still having a chance to tie. The Gamecocks scored a touchdown, but failed the game-tying 2-point attempts, so no harm, no foul. However, had Bernard opted to slide down before crossing the goal line, Alabama would have been able to run the clock out and never give the ball back to the opposition.

“We have all those calls in, we practice them every Friday. That one, you try to make them aware they didn’t have any timeouts. That’s the situation. So we’ll talk about that,” DeBoer said. “This is where we learn.”

Bernard after the game said he’d be more mindful the next time he’s in that kind of situation, if it were to arise again.

“Next time I’ll have that in the back of my mind to be able to do that next time we’re in that situation. Hopefully we’re not in that situation,” Bernard said.

Despite the inability to run out the clock, DeBoer was proud of the decision Milroe made in order to execute that play when at the very least a first down was needed.

“Just like a lot of our concepts there is a deeper route. I love that Jalen saw it, because I think a lot of times that’s early in the season, we didn’t maybe see those things,” DeBoer said. “But him and understanding the offense, just his familiarity. And then making the throw and making the catch, that’s finding ways to get it done. Proud of the guys on that execution, and obviously that was a huge part of the win.”

Milroe credited Bernard’s route-running, as well as his ability to be disciplined going through his reads on the play.

“It was all about reading it out,” Milroe said. “It was a play we repped throughout the whole week. It was all about reading it properly, having great eye discipline, allowing out playmakers to make some plays in space. Germie had a good route, good job on his route and I just gave him a chance to go get the ball.”