Kalen DeBoer Highlights Intentionality to Combat Slow Starts

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Two weeks ago against the Kentucky Wildcats, Alabama's first-half drive chart looked like this:

-Interception
-Fumble
-Field Goal
-Field Goal
-Interception

The Crimson Tide faced a 17-13 deficit in Lexington, but the second-half drive chart looked much better for Alabama:

-Punt
-Field Goal
-Touchdown
-Touchdown
-Touchdown
-Touchdown
-End of Game

Against Florida State last Saturday, the Tide again struggled out of the gate, suffering a 21-6 deficit with a drive chart that looked like:

-Punt
-Punt
-Field Goal
-Field Goal

Alabama finally woke up, flipping the switch on offense with the Crimson Tide scoring on every drive except one over the final two and a half quarters:

-Touchdown
-Touchdown
-Touchdown
HALFTIME
-Touchdown
-Touchdown
-Field Goal
-Touchdown
-End of Game

Against stiffer competition, however, Alabama won't be able to go down 17 points and expect a comeback victory. When Alabama hosts South Carolina this weekend, or goes to Starkville to take on Kamario Taylor, or Gunner Stockton and Georgia come to town, a 17-point deficit might be a death sentence for Alabama's chances at victory.

Kalen DeBoer understands that, and he, along with the Crimson Tide's coaching staff, is intentional with an increased emphasis on starting fast after back-to-back slow starts against Power Four competition.

"Offensively, we had the interception two weeks ago. I think our defense did a nice job starting fast. What we just can’t have is what we had on Saturday where both sides, really the whole team, we come out and don’t make the plays that are out there," DeBoer said. "Make the plays that are out there or give up–– our eyes aren’t in the right spot. The scheme we’re going against hits perfect on a mistake that we make that we easily have run very efficiently and successfully many times in the past. If you make a mistake at this level, the ball’s gonna find ya. Mistakes are going to be costly. Early on, we certainly did that. It gave them hope. It gave them life. That’s exactly what we wanted to avoid, especially in this game. It just took a lot for us to get over the hump. Once we kinda settled in—unfortunately it took a bit— once we settled in, we saw how explosive we can be."

Regardless of the competition, the response to early adversity is something that Kalen DeBoer wants to see his team improve on.

"We’ve talked about it. You’ve gotta respond. You’ve gotta react to what happened and have some urgency in everything we do," he said. "I think our guys do that, but you’ve just got to continue to be intentional in how we wanna handle the beginning of the game, what that needs to look like. Again, there might be a scheme or a defense or an offense that we face that is extremely strong, and you just don’t come out and, all of a sudden, have 17-point leads. I think that happens very few times when you’ve got two competitive teams playing each other. But you’ve got to come out and execute on a higher level than what we did on Saturday, for sure, as a team.”

No. 8 Alabama will host South Carolina on Saturday, September 26, in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on ESPN.

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_.