KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 6 Alabama took a 26-10 loss to No. 14 Tennessee on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Neyland Stadium. The Vols held Alabama to 201 total yards, and sacked quarterback Keelon Russell five times. Russell also tossed two interceptions, and had a rough day from the jump.
After the game Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke with the media. Below is everything he said.
Opening statement
“We just struggled to sustain anything, keeping drives and continuity there. A penalty, or we came up short on a couple fourth downs, and you’re gonna have to find a way to get some explosives against a front like that and we struggled to do that.
Turnovers early gave them some field position. They got the points. Our defense did a nice job of holding them to field goals. They did score every time they got in the red zone, but I thought those were some key stops to give us a chance.
“And so we struggled coming out of the locker room each half to put some drives together. And again, fourth and one a couple times and coming up short, giving them some field position the second one and taking opportunities when we’re in the red zone away from us there.
They did a nice job bleeding out the clock there, especially in the fourth quarter, but the second half in general. They were efficient with their run game and so that gave us limited opportunities there. But we gotta find a way to get off the field there.”
How do you explain only 201 yards of offense?
“Some penalties put yourself in a spot, and again, when you come up a yard short or there’s a couple times we punted and we were inside of a few yards. So those five-yard penalties matter. Again, we went for it a couple times too. So those are pieces to it. They got a pass rush, and so when you’re getting down to distances that become a little bit more pass situations, they can pin their ears back.
“And they obviously got to Keelon early and kept us from being able to really get anything going. I would even say stay on the field, but to get anything going. That kind of wears on you, I don’t care who you are as a quarterback. But we gotta get back and find ways to get some run game going.
That always opens up our play action, and I don’t think that part of our game was really existent, both the run and the play action. And so that’s a lot of what we do and it’s tough to move the ball when you don’t have the run game and you don’t have the ability for some explosive plays or you miss the opportunity with some explosive plays.”
How much did Tennessee’s coverage factor into the offense’s struggles?
“Well, yeah, they’re one of the best pass efficiency, defense efficiency teams in the conference if not the country, and a pass rush that is really good. So you get yourself in that spot, it’s harder to convert, and that was certainly the case.
“And so you gotta get yourself into third and fourth and manageables. We did that a few times and still came up short there. They do a good job in the defensive structure and scheme and with some athletes that can put some pressure on you.”
The defense had only one sack. What went wrong getting pressure on Tennessee?
“They did a good job running the football. A lot of their passes come off the RPO game, especially early in the game. That was happening. And so they got rid of the ball quick, perimeter, on the receiver screens. There’s times and moments where you get them into the pass situations and you’re pretty confident it’s gonna be an opportunity to come after them. And they did a good job getting rid of the football and escaping pressure.
“But again, as I said, probably the key is that they were able to run the football and then a lot of the passing game came off of those RPOs. And so you’re having to play both.”
With a new center, how was communication on the offensive line against a consistent pass rush?
“I don’t think it was about that necessarily as far as communication. There’s a couple I know we pointed, and some of that is too, you’re getting in there and the guys are in a little different spot. They’re gonna scheme you up too. So it wasn’t like it was wrong, but there’s adjustments you can make. In the end, we struggled to move, so we’ll watch the film, but I don’t feel like it was a problem with the communication across the board.
“We get into some situations where we got a chance to get a first down and we have a false start. That happened a number of times, and we got into some delay of games in some moments there. Again, it just puts you in a tougher spot than you wanna be, especially on the road.
And every step they get with the crowd the way it is on a silent count, those are moments that you just try to avoid. We gotta do a better job coming out of the gates and setting the tone and being efficient and executing to take a lead and be able to play our game. They were able to play their game tonight.”
Any update on Zabien and EJ?
“Both Zabien and EJ have lower extremity injuries. We will just work through it this week. I don’t have much more than that.”
Alabama, Texas and Georgia all lost today. What does that say about the SEC in the modern era?
“Yeah, I just heard that before I walked in here. You gotta bring your A game every weekend. You gotta have great preparation and you gotta make some plays when it really matters. It can change the game.
“I don’t know what happened in those games, but I’m assuming they were somewhat close. That’s what it’s gonna be. We talk about life in the SEC, we talk about that each week and you gotta reset, especially life on the road in the SEC. And so we’re gonna have our backs to the wall here. Other teams are too in the conference, and so again, the depth of the conference, you’re gonna be in for a dog fight every single weekend.”
What did you tell the locker room after back-to-back losses with the margin for error shrinking?
“Yeah, I just said it’s gonna be really uncomfortable. And again, it’s not like I felt like they didn’t practice. We had a lot of motivation to come back and have a great week and prepare for this game, but moving forward it’s gonna be another level of uncomfortable.
A lot of guys haven’t been through like the last year or the last two. And so I know they feel it. And our older guys had mentioned that even a couple weeks ago, just what it’s gonna be like here on this stretch. And so the key is that you just hone in on one game. Don’t look at the big picture, just hone in on one game and believe that you have a team that can get it done. At the end of the game, I was just looking at the guys in their eyes, and they were scrapping till the end and gonna keep playing.
“And that’s what this is gonna be about moving forward, continue to believe that we’re gonna find a way, and you gotta pick up and come to work. You just mentioned the SEC and all the teams, everyone’s going through it, so who’s gonna respond and get it done? We’ve been through this before and we’ve gotten it done and so we gotta make sure we get it done here moving forward.
And I told the guys, this is the team that can do it. This is a team that can do that. You gotta catch some breaks, you gotta stay healthy, do all that, but that’s everyone across the board.”
Alabama scored under 20 points in each of the last two weeks after 45 or more in the previous five. What changed?
“There’s gotta be some continuity and a run game that is gonna set up some opportunities for us to be able to have our whole offense available. In the end, it’s hard to drive the ball play after play for three or four yards per play on a drive, especially if you have some penalties on top of it, and then end up in the end zone.
“So we gotta make sure we continue to hone in on just some of the things that we’re really good at and execute because that’s where you can get your chunk plays, and that’s where the explosive athletes and players can go get the job done. To me, I don’t know what the explosives were for today, but again, the run game sets that up, so you gotta have a little bit of both feeding off of each other. When we’ve been rolling as an offense, usually both of those things are in sync and working together.”
What impact did Terrance Green’s absence have?
“Well, he’s definitely a difference maker. We also have other guys that I feel can get the job done. Whether it’s just guys having to play more snaps, TG was playing a lot of snaps for us, but no one cares. I told the guys that no one cares, and we’ve said this from the beginning of the season, it doesn’t matter if you have guys that are dinged up. There’s a score that’s getting printed, there’s a score that happened tonight, and every team is going through the same stuff.
And so yes, to answer your question, he has an impact. He’s a physical, big presence in the middle for us. And so when that’s not there, it’s gonna impact you some.”
