Following Saturday’s heartbreaking 31-17 loss to Florida State, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer declared that there are “no excuses” for what transpired.
The Crimson Tide were a nearly two-touchdown favourite going into the game. However, following a successful first drive, they were unable to slow down Florida State’s new-look rushing game or run the ball consistently.
Florida State began celebrating on the field with two minutes remaining in the game, while Alabama was left wondering what to do, especially in a season that began with DeBoer’s College Football Playoff hopes in Year 2.
DeBoer stated, “I choose to believe we’ve got a good football team.” We can’t play on our heels, though.
If that’s the case, we won’t be what we believe we can be or what we wish to be. And everyone is responsible for that. I don’t blame the players alone.
Alabama established the tone early in the game with a 16-play, 75-yard drive that saw them convert on third and fourth downs and appear to be unstoppable.
Alabama employed a successful rotation even without starting running back Jam Miller, and Ty Simpson, the new starting quarterback, made some clutch throws.
After that, though, it became a slog as Florida State made defensive adjustments and began to put more pressure on Simpson.
The Seminoles put pressure on Simpson on 16 of his 51 dropbacks, per ESPN Research. Under pressure, he was 1-of-10 for 30 yards and three sacks.
Alabama tried four different running backs without Miller, but none of them worked. Thirteen yards was the day’s longest run.
“I think we got a little complacent and we thought we won on the first drive, and that’s not how it is,” Simpson stated. “Well done, guys. For four quarters, they played hard.
It was something we kind of assumed. We had the opportunity to sit here and complete drives. There were no negative plays on the first drive, so we had to continue.
“We must realize that we cannot perform well on a single drive. We must continue playing together and avoid glancing at the scoreboard.
Ryan Williams, a freshman All-American receiver, left the game late due to a concussion, indicating that Simpson did not share his thoughts.
He was the target of just 5 out of 11 passes from Simpson, including 0 out of 3 on passes that were thrown more than 5 yards downfield.
Coach Mike Norvell of Florida State commended his team for their physical dominance, which is a huge improvement over the Seminoles’ 2-10 record and inability to run the ball a year ago.
Gus Malzahn, who had some success against Alabama while he was head coach at Auburn, was appointed offensive coordinator by Norvell.
Alabama’s rush total was 87 yards, while the Seminoles’ was 230 yards.
“Felt like old times tonight,” Malzahn later wrote on X.
The fact that the Crimson Tide did not start defensive tackle Tim Keenan III could have been a contributing factor.
With only one sack and three tackles for loss, Alabama did not produce many plays behind the line of scrimmage even without him.
“There’s no excuses about what happened,” DeBoer declared. “We enter the football field. We got to play ball after they stepped onto the football field.
We were allowed to play the ball the way we wanted. It’s going to be a steep climb for us, and last year isn’t this year, but you can’t consider it in the grand scheme of things.
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You must concentrate on the here and now. “What happens tomorrow?” is the next question. And we’ll discover. We’ll discover.”
In a 21-point loss to No. 3 USC, Alabama suffered its first season-opening loss by two touchdowns since 1970. With a challenging season ahead of them and pressure mounting on them, the Crimson Tide must now find a way to regroup.
DeBoer remarked, “We’ve discussed chemistry on this team and how close we are and how hard we’ve worked doing a lot of the right things.” “We’ll see if that sticks.”
Source : ESPN
