Kalen DeBoer on Ryan Grubb, "He's a Great Playcaller"

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- After struggling on offense the last two weeks, Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb took ownership during his Monday morning press conference, saying, "It starts with me," regarding Alabama scoring just 27 points over the last two weeks as the Tide comes off back-to-back losses for the first time since 2013.

Ryan Grubb Takes Ownership After Offensive Struggles

The Tide has scored just three points in the second half of the last two games and was shut out by Tennessee's defense in Knoxville last Saturday. Alabama abandoned the run game against the Volunteers, calling 29 passes to 26 runs. In the second half against Tennessee, Alabama called 10 designed runs. Five of them came on Alabama's first drive of the second half. Against Georgia, Alabama called 12 rushing plays in the second half, averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The Tide had 29 total rushes against the Bulldogs.

"I think he’s a great play caller. Putting an offense together, understanding tendencies and things like that, I think you’ve got to look at; there are a lot of scenarios that go into struggling at times as an offense," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said of offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb on Monday. "Again, it comes down to execution in a lot of those moments. Our fourth-and-one calls, I think they’re really good calls. They were calls we were ready to run in that game. Our guys knew there are details of stepping on top of each other and things like that that matter."

Alabama had three fourth-down attempts against Tennessee. The first came in the second quarter, with Daniel Hill rushing for three yards before coughing up the football at the Tennessee 13. The Vols recovered at their own 11-yard line. The other two occurred in the third and fourth quarters. The attempt in the third quarter saw offensive lineman Michael Carroll stepping on Keelon Russell, delaying the handoff to Daniel Hill, who was stuffed for no gain. In the fourth quarter, Alabama converted its lone fourth down of the game, with Keelon Russell throwing a six-yard pass to Marshall Pritchett on fourth-and-three.

"The thing about Ryan is that he’s evaluating and is as critical of himself as anyone. It’s always been like that. It goes back 15 years at least. 20 years that I’ve known him," DeBoer said. "That’s the beauty of our staff as a whole. Just as far as your concern with the question, that’s a piece of it. You’re just always trying to make it better. Trying to fit what you do around your personnel. Just have a system. We’re plugging these guys into the system. We’ve got to continue to evolve around the players that we have and help them play fast."

No. 13 Alabama will host Texas A&M for homecoming on Saturday, October 24, at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.