Alabama football defense exposed by Vanderbilt, and that means trouble

NASHVILLE — Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer saw the desperation from Georgia a week ago.

After finishing with three successful third-down conversions on 15 tries, the Bulldogs offense turned five fourth downs into first downs: staying alive and taking a lead that the Crimson Tide offense stole back in dramatic fashion.

On Saturday, DeBoer said it came down to Alabama’s lack of success on third down against Vanderbilt: an offense, he said, that “continues to wear on us” and used 42 minutes of possession to become the first team to score 40 on Alabama since Tennessee in 2022. Vanderbilt beat Alabama 40-35 for the Commodores‘ first win against the Crimson Tide since 1984.

“We needed to get off the field on third down,” DeBoer said. “And there’s things in all phases that we can do better. We need to take care of the football, we need to get off the field on third down. And so we’re going to own it as a team and keep moving forward.”

It was what Vanderbilt was facing on third down that was Alabama’s problem.

Alabama’s defense came in with a reputation as “bend, but don’t break,” as takeaway savvy, as opportunistic in its new vision-style, zone coverage-based defense led by coordinator Kane Wommack. It’s a scheme many, if not all, college football teams carry, but one the Crimson Tide plays more than most.

Against that defense, Vanderbilt did not have to do much.

The Commodores averaged 5.5 yards per play and 3.1 yards per rush – each of which were less than Alabama’s offensive output – but ran 29 more plays than the Crimson Tide with an offensive game plan that was as close to a triple-option as the defense will likely see all season.

On those third down tries, Vanderbilt faced an average distance of nearly 7 yards. Three of Vanderbilt’s five touchdowns came on third down, including the 6-yard backbreaker from Diego Pavia to Kamrean Johnson.

“It was hard to get off field on third down,” Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said. “And then penalties, penalties hurt us early. And that created some long drives for us. And then just got beat on some man-to-man-coverage.”

Alabama football has seen defensive collapse before

But it wasn’t about Vanderbilt’s style of play. It’s a defensive collapse Alabama has seen before.

Georgia did things completely differently against Alabama, using a pass-based, pro-style offense led by quarterback Carson Beck, and ended with 519 yards and 34 points. Alabama saw it in moments against South Florida with quarterback Byrum Brown’s ability to tuck and run.

Alabama pitted an opportunistic defense against a Vanderbilt team that didn’t give the Crimson Tide an opportunity to do nearly anything in terms of creating takeaways, creating momentum.

And the Commodores took advantage, something SEC teams could soon follow.

“I wouldn’t say it’s brand new,” Alabama linebacker Que Robinson said of the defense’s struggles. “We prepared pretty well, I believe And we just got to come out and play harder from the start.”

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him atcgay@gannett.com or follow him@_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.