Kalen DeBoer explains second half offensive struggles, decision not to kick field goal in fourth quarter

During Alabama’s 19-13 loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl, the offense completely disappeared for massive chunks of the game.

The first quarter saw Alabama record -2 yards of total offense, turning the ball over four times including once on downs. After falling into a 16-0 hole, the offense started to find its groove again, putting up 165 yards in the second quarter and scoring 10 points, putting together a few long drives that came together rather quickly with some explosive plays.

It felt like the tide was turning, and if Alabama could replicate that offensive success out of the halftime break, it would be able to find a way to come out with a win.

In reality, the opposite happened. The offense went right back to its inability to consistently move the ball, its first three drives going to a total of 29 yards in the second half.

“The losses were the ones that hurt us. A sack, being behind the chains. That’s what they thrive on,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said after the game. “Their defense does a good job of thriving on being physical, forcing down and distances where you’re behind the chains. When that happened, it’s tough to overcome against a team that understands their identity and plays team football. We knew the game would get shrunk down. We had to knock out that first quarter, which you can’t do because that’s part of the game, and all of a sudden it takes a whole different game of its own, because you’re down 16-nothing. You’re just fighting, scrapping, trying to give us a chance like we did at the very end.”

The negative plays piled up, from runs that lost yardage to sacks being taken on early downs, and it got Alabama behind the chains far more times than it would have liked. That led to short drives, and Michigan was able to chew the clock down with its rushing attack.

Eventually, the offense sustained a successful drive in the mid fourth quarter, but stalled right around the edge of kicker Graham Nicholson‘s field goal range. Still trailing by six points, DeBoer opted to go for it on 4th-and-7 rather than kick the field goal to trim the lead down to three.

Alabama missed the fourth down conversion, giving Michigan the ball back. If Alabama would gave kicked the field goal, it could have found itself down by just three points later in the game, when it drove back into Michigan territory with a chance to win.

DeBoer explained his thought process behind his decision to go for it in that pivotal moment.

“Yeah, you think about it. It felt like at the team – and now we know he can kick the one at the end from that distance – it felt like we were on the fringe of what the percentages were,” DeBoer said. “Understanding who we are it sounds like you don’t have confidence in your kicker, which I do. Just felt like we could convert a 4th-and-7. Unfortunately we didn’t. I felt like the passing game when we were executing, and that’s a big part of it, that we could find a way to convert and get the ball in the right guy’s hands to make a big play.”

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