Kane Wommack breaks down Alabama's defensive woes vs. Vanderbilt

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama defense played unequivocally its worst game of the season on Saturday. The Crimson Tide gave up 40 points to Vanderbilt, allowing over 400 yards of offense en route to an upset loss that sent shockwaves through the college football world.

While Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke to the media immediately following the loss, it wasn’t until Monday morning that defensive coordinator Kane Wommack was made available to speak. Wommack opened his press conference with a statement nearly five minutes long, discussing what went wrong for the Alabama defense in the loss.

“Alright, I thought reviewing back on last week’s game, I didn’t think we played the way the game is supposed to be played from a defensive perspective,” Wommack said. “Which is, for us, playing with tremendous effort and finish, hard-shoulder tackling, playing with violent hands and block destruction up front, and then certainly having an urgency to create takeaways. We did not to that to any level of consistency. Certainly that’s not acceptable. Not something any of us coaches or player are going to accept from ourselves.”

Wommack said before the game, Alabama’s defensive staff and players discussed three keys to victory that would be necessary to leave FirstBank Stadium with a win. As you could expect, none of those three keys were met by the defense with their performance in the game.

“I thought when you look at the game, our keys to victory, number one was to do our job and do it with consistency and when the ball declares, play with a high level of intensity and urgency. I thought we played too much on our heels against them,” Wommack said.

Playing on their heels is a great way to describe it. Vanderbilt’s offense, commanded by dynamic quarterback Diego Pavia, leaned into a triple option style that gave Alabama fits. Pavia, a meticulous decision-maker, forced the Crimson Tide defense to play his game, his way.

Vanderbilt garnered 166 yards on the ground in the game, 56 of which came from Pavia and 64 of which came from running back Sedrick Alexander. Alabama was clearly guessing when each triple option play came, not knowing where the ball was going, and being unsure about how to play the scheme.

“Number two was to be situationally elite, which we have been at times this season, but I thought one of the real keys to the game as we started making adjustments against the run is that we were not able to get off the field in 3rd-and-long situations,” Wommack said. “That’s something we’ve really been — we’ve excelled at this season thus far. We were not able to do it in the game, so certainly some things we’ve got to make sure we get adjusted and tweaked so that we can get back to playing great third down defense.”

Somewhat surprisingly, the Alabama defense was horrendous on third down against Vanderbilt. One week before, against Georgia, third downs were a strength of the team, while fourth downs caused the most trouble. That wasn’t the case here.

Vanderbilt converted on 12-of-18 third down attempts, which equals out to 67 percent. Put simply, that’s abysmal. When Alabama needed stops, they weren’t there, whether it was 3rd-and-short, 3rd-and-long, whatever. That inability to get off the field led to long, sustained Vanderbilt drives, which continually chewed clock and added to the score.

“Then create takeaways was our third key to victory,” Wommack said. “We felt like it was an opportunity for us to take the ball off them if we played aggressive and physical. Credit them they did a great job of taking care of the ball and still having an aggressive mindset on certain downs. They managed the ball and the clock very well.”

Another whiff. Wommack has called out his unit’s inability to create takeaways in the past, and it happened again in this game. Alabama forced zero turnovers against Vanderbilt, leading to a -2 turnover margin for the game. There’s no telling what the score would have been if Alabama had created a takeaway on defense, but there’s a strong chance the team would have left a whole lot happier.

So, according to Wommack’s keys to victory, Alabama went 0-for-3. Knowing that, he took responsibility for the way the unit played.

“When we don’t get any of our keys to victory done and we don’t play with ‘Bama fundamentals, that ultimately falls on me as the defensive coordinator,” Wommack said. “It’s my responsibility to make sure we get our players to play at the highest level possible, and to become the best versions of themselves on gameday, and we did not get that done on Saturday. We are all having urgency to get that cleaned up and to get that better moving forward.”

After addressing the failed keys to victory, Wommack looked forward, examining two specific things the Crimson Tide needs to hone in on as the season continues.

“Really those are the two things we feel like we have to be focused on moving forward. Becoming more consistent when we do see some of those non-traditional run pictures that the triple option presents to you, and getting back to playing third down defense the way that we have played,” Wommack said. “Felt like, really, you look at third down defense this past week and fourth down defense in the second half against Georgia, not to the standard. For six quarters there, third and fourth down, we have not operated to the level we’re capable of, otherwise we’re looking at different stories in both those games.”

But Alabama can’t sit and sulk about the Vanderbilt loss forever, or at all at this point. There’s another game on the schedule this week, one at home against a pesky South Carolina team. Though it’s only been two days since the loss, Wommack has liked the response he’s seen from his players as Alabama turns the page to a new opponent.

“I thought the guys had a really good demeanor yesterday as we met with them, I thought they had the right mindset, very workmanlike. Ready to get back to work, challenging each other, challenging themselves. Had some great conversations with our staff, had some great conversations with our leadership on defense in order to make sure we’re giving the players the things they need to be at their best on gameday,” Wommack said.

“The guys are ready to respond on Saturday. We’re already working and have a good plan thus far against South Carolina. We’ll have a tremendous challenge for us, for sure. But our guys, myself included, our coaches cannot wait to get back out on the field on Saturday at Bryant-Denny. I think we’re gonna play with a level of urgency that our fans will appreciate, and a response that we all expect for Alabama to have on defense going into this week.”