Everything Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said after South Carolina's 27-25 loss

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke to the media following the team’s 27-25 win over South Carolina on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say.

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Opening statement

“Another game down to the wire – we’re kind of getting accustomed to those. I think there’s some things that we can certainly do to make sure that it doesn’t. But we always talk about finding a way to win. And as many times that it maybe looked like we weren’t, we did.

“The biggest thing I’m proud of is the response, starting early in the week. There’s things I think that happened because of the way they came ready to practice, whether it was just a response Sunday after we got together and kind of talked over the truth of what we had happen a week ago. And, then, Tuesday, (it was) just, ‘Back to work.’

“(They’re a) very unified group that understands that there’s still so much more we can get better at. We talked a lot about different things that South Carolina would do that would be tougher matchups for us – areas in the strength of their team that were maybe different than a week ago. And that’s the way it’s going to be every single week. We knew that, up front, they were going to be stout. And (I) thought we did a nice job with a balanced attack most of the time. Obviously, when we tried to force the issue and got into some some longer situations or tried to press the ball, especially in the first half, that backfired on us.

“But, defensively, (we) got to the quarterback. We had three, four sacks – I think it was – and three takeaways. That’s always an emphasis. It continues to be emphasis, and probably the way the guys those three.

“(I’m) just proud of the way the guys fight. The onside kick – we talk about our thought process and being 1-0 and focusing on the next play. I used it from day one – about the ball being a funny-shaped object and bouncing. We just need to go grab it. It seems pretty simply, but, obviously, that didn’t happen. Guys are trying – great effort on it – but (we) found a way on defense. Go out there, attack, be aggressive and put them in a tough spot there on the last play.”

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On Germie Bernard’s touchdown pass

“We knew we had to get the first down, with how much time was on the clock. (We) didn’t have the timeout, so there’s a risk-reward. We’re just right on the edge of what it would take to kick a field goal. (A) field goal makes it a difference as far as what they got to score, so a lot of components, a lot of things that are involved in what we try to do.

“There was a lot of safe avenues and and things that we discussed on that play. I think that they were aggressive in trying to play a lot of those. Just like a lot of our concepts, there’s a deeper route, and I love that Jalen (Milroe) saw it because I think that’s a lot of times early in the season, we didn’t maybe see those. But him and understanding the offense, just his familiarity, and then him of making the throw, making the catch – that’s finding ways to get it done. So, (I’m) proud of those guys on that execution. Obviousl,y that was a huge part of the win.”

On the decision to go for it on fourth down on Alabama’s opening drive

“Yeah, I’m pretty confident they were saying to go. Pretty much, the analytics say any fourth-and-one, you should go for it. But we just felt confident with the tempo. We really haven’t done much of that, so even then just seeing what we would line up and how we would run it the first time – that was something we were pretty confident (in). We work on it every single week – (in the) later part of the week – and I thought the guys did a nice job. A big part, obviously, (was) getting some momentum. You hate punting on the first drive when it’s third, fourth. So, great job of the guys executing something we hadn’t really done this year.”

On the decision to call a timeout with 11 seconds left in the first half

“I mean, I trust our guys. And that one, obviously, you know the points points they got at the end. At the end of the half, they hurt us, and I’m thinking, ‘If we can get one play to where we can throw it in the end zone on fourth down, and the clock ends with us having the football, I’m all for it.’ Worst-case scenario, you take a sack or something, you have to punt it. I don’t like punting – really, anytime. But that was, to me, the worst-case scenario.

“But, I guess, I’m always just aggressive that way. You try to weigh the risk-reward and put the trust in the guys, things we talk about. We know that’ll be something – obviously, me and J-Mill, Coach (Nick) Sheridan – we’ll sit and talk about just, when we’re in that moment, we want to keep the pedal down and try to give ourselves another play. I’m looking for anything. It might be defensive pass interference. (It) could be anything that gives us one more play. We’ve seen crazier things happen, right? So, that’s just the aggressiveness I like to have.

“Now, we’ll talk about the trust, and I think the guys appreciate when you put the trust in them. But we have to learn from those things when they do happen because, obviously, they got three points of out of it. It’s probably the last thing I was thinking about when it did happen.”

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On Domani Jackson’s toughness

“I think he’ll be fine. Obviously, he was back out there. (The) guy wants to go out there. He’s had a great season so far. He’s someone we got a lot of confidence in, and we wanted to just use him at the right times, the right moments, in the second half when those times came up. Again, finding a way to pull it down and concentrate on the ball – most people look at it as an easy pick, but you got to still be there, and you still got to make the play. So, (I’m) um definitely proud of the fight that he had in wanting to be back out there, considering he did go down earlier in the game.”

On penalties that extended drives for South Carolina

“We’re striving for zero, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We emphasize it. Every situation is a learning one, and we’re going to talk about that. We have to read body language of what’s Happening. I haven’t seen it, so what I say may just be totally not correct, but the understanding is that he comes across the field. I know what his responsibility is, but when he’s coming across the field, he doesn’t hear a whistle. You just got to kind of, at some point, have a sense of what’s happening in front of you – and if your guy has slowed down or anything like that when you hit him.

“I know the ball wasn’t that deep into the end zone – I thought we might field it and and bring it out. I think it was a late decision on whether we were going to do that and let it go. It wasn’t something where he’s egregiously trying to go out and get a penalty – it’s just more of a matter of reading what’s happening in front of you and instinctually knowing that the play is a touchback. So, again, that’s something I’m sure I’ll see on film and understand.

“How close was it? I know by the letter of the law – yeah, probably a penalty, right? The ball’s touched back and all that, so we can’t have it. We can’t do it. That was one that hurt us because it put us in that situation for the safety. Those plays kept feeding on each other. The small thing – which, that’s a big thing – but the small things add up, and we find ourselves in a fight ’til the end.”

On Alabama’s ability to stop South Carolina on third downs

“They were seven for 15. I think they had five on one drive – I remember talking about it on the sideline. So, for the rest of the game, two for 10, is that right? I’m just doing rough math.

“You can’t have five of them in a drive, right? I think there’s just a desire to find a way to make the play. I’ll watch the film, and we’ll all understand what happened on a lot of those. They were in some good situations. On some, I remember the ball they caught over the middle was advantageous for us, as far as the down and distance. That’s the one where you really got to get off the football field, Those are hard to convert, just from an offensive side, and they did. A lot of the game, I felt like we were we were doing a solid job. (I) can’t say we were doing a great job. But that drive, certainly, coming out in the second half, set the tone and made it hard for us the rest of the game.

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“You got to start a little faster when we come out. We talk about the ‘middle eight’ – going into the locker room, coming out, where they got the ball. And, then, they had those points at the end the first half. We just got to do a good job of starting fast in the middle part of the game. And, then, obviously finishing – I think we did some things on both ends, but we got to do a good job there before going to the locker room taking that momentum in.”

On talking to Bernard and Jackson about taking knees at the end of the game

“Yeah, we have all those calls in. We practice them every Friday. I’ll just say that you try to make them aware that they don’t have any timeouts. So, we’ll talk about that. There’s things that hit us.

“The one with Domani – I just talked to him about it. And, again, this is where we learn. His mindset is, I’m going to run the clock.’ So, true, right, but we all understand all we got to do is go down, take a knee. Those are just things that we got to continue to learn from. Fortunately, nothing happened at the end there, whether it’s an injury or, obviously, even something else to where there’s another play, something freakish happens. So, (we’ll) just continue to coach, continue to teach. You talk about those things, and you think that everyone’s good. Just take a knee in the end zone understanding there’s no timeouts we do that. But then he comes out with that, and that was the last thing I expected him to say. (I) love the kid, love the play, and we’ll learn from it.”

On opponents sustaining long drives against Alabama’s defense

“I think these two offenses we’ve faced (South Carolina and Vanderbilt) are more built to have drives that continue to have plays stack on top of each other. I know they got the explosive on the fourth down against our coverage with the the ball down the sideline and, I think, took the safety out of the picture there. But I think it fit more of them and the running back, quarterback – guys that just kept moving the chains. Three yards, four yards, trying to get in those third-and-ones, third-and-twos, convert slants or something like that just to keep the keep the drive alive.

“I can’t say that they are or aren’t, but, obviously, it’s frustrating when they can put five third downs together. And, then, you start wearing on your defense again – they’re out there a long time. The longer the drive happens, the better chance they have, obviously, scoring.”

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