What Jalen Milroe, Kalen DeBoer said about QB's three INTs at Oklahoma

NORMAN, Okla. – For the first time in his career, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe threw three interceptions in the Crimson Tide’s 24-3 loss against unranked Oklahoma on Saturday night.

Milroe became the first Alabama quarterback to do that since Blake Sims’ three picks in a Sugar Bowl semifinal loss to Ohio State late in the 2014 season. The three interceptions were the most for Oklahoma’s defense this fall, too, and only the second game with multiple picks.

All three occurred in the second half. The first was on what appeared to be a screen pass that wasn’t properly blocked, allowing Eli Brown to have a free line to the pass attempt. The play led to the Sooners’ second touchdown of the game, giving Oklahoma a 17-3 edge. On the very next drive, Kip Lewis intercepted Milroe and returned it 49 yards for a pick-six.

“I was looking at the rotation. It was the right side to work,” Milroe said after the game. “If I threw it a little sooner, we would have completed the ball. But those are passes you’ve gotta complete, so I take full ownership of that. And then it’s just all about going 1-0 after that.”

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer shared his message to Milroe after his second mistake.

“I thought he kept battling,” DeBoer said. “I looked in his eyes and think he’s come a long ways all season long, and just the way he wants to go out there and keep leading the team and guys kept fighting for him. That’s just pretty much what I shared with him, just have no regrets. 

“Go out there and keep swinging.”

Milroe seemed to bounce back early in the fourth quarter, throwing a 36-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Williams. However, the Alabama freshman was flagged for illegal touching, resulting in a loss of downs on fourth down. Oklahoma punted it back to the Tide, but a drive that reached the Sooners’ 35 ended with Milroe being pressured and picked off a third time.

Milroe shouldered the blame for his interceptions, but DeBoer attributed other UA miscues for the worst offensive performance of the season – the first time the Crimson Tide has been held under 200 yards of total offense (234) since last year’s playoff loss to Michigan.

“I just felt like early in the game, there was different things,” DeBoer said.

“I mean, drops, just flat-out drops. Balls we lost in the lights. Just different, uncharacteristic things, weird things that happened. And I thought he was actually putting the ball where we needed to. We just needed to help him out a little bit. The screen pass, they jump it and you have to assume that those blocks are gonna happen and you’re reading a different defender.

“And then there’s the pick-six that goes the other way. I don’t know if he just didn’t see him or predetermined things, but there’s still a lot of game left. And I felt like a lot of things he was doing, he was fighting and battling and doing a lot of things well for our football team. We just all needed to be a little better.”

Milroe finished the game 11-of-26 for 164 yards and zero passing touchdowns. He also carried the ball 15 times for seven yards. Oklahoma limited Alabama’s quarterback to his second-worst rushing performance of the season, bottling up him and the Tide running backs.

“They’re a really good defense,” Milroe said. “I thought they played really hard. They have a lot of guys that are physical, played really strong. And of course, when you play Alabama, you’re gonna get your best, especially here at home. It’s all about just attacking, having a 1-0 mentality, regrouping and just acknowledging what we need to do to fix it.”

Alabama (8-3, 4-3 SEC) will look to bounce back in its regular-season finale against Auburn on Saturday, Nov. 30. It could be difficult, given the loss at Oklahoma eliminated the Tide from the SEC Championship Game and left its playoff hopes all but over. As a captain, Milroe and UA’s other leaders will look to rally the troops for Alabama’s final home game.

“One of our core values is finish,” Milroe said. “Despite anything, whether it’s challenges, hardships, no matter what it is, it’s all about finish and controllable. We can control how we fix the mistakes we made in this game and then go on to play our next opponent.”

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