What changed for Alabama from Week 6 to Week 7

Alabama experienced a scare on Saturday against South Carolina, but the Crimson Tide ultimately emerged with a last-minute win 27-25. It was a bounce-back win for Alabama, which lost to Vanderbilt last week in a poorly executed game with many issues.

A week later, Alabama still experienced many of the same issues, allowing South Carolina to stay in the game till the last minute.

“Another game down to the wire, I think we’re kind of getting accustomed to those,” head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “I think there are some things we can certainly do to make sure it doesn’t get to that point.”

Play calling

There was a noticeable change in play calling from last week, but it was not entirely for the good. The game plan seemed to change to a ground-focused offense and a variety of defenses.

Last week, fans saw Alabama almost completely abandon the run game, particularly quarterback-designed runs. That shifted this week, as Jalen Milroe accounted for 18 of Alabama’s 38 total rush attempts.

Milroe attempted one less pass than in the Vanderbilt game and finished with 101 fewer passing yards. He had 11 more rush attempts but only 36 more yards.

The ground game never seemed to get going, but Alabama stuck with it. There was a focus on check-down passes, as few deep shots were taken during the game.

Defensively, there also seemed to be a shift, with more zone coverage and blitzes. However, this did not help Alabama’s struggles with the mobile quarterback. South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers finished with 257 total yards through the air and on the ground.

Through the last two games, Alabama has shown an inability to adjust throughout the game, never seeming to truly tweak the play calls even if they weren’t very successful.

Execution

Alabama still struggled to execute in multiple facets of the game, even basic tackling.

There were many moments when South Carolina players broke the first attempted tackle, along with many plays where the middle of the field was left open. This allowed for easy pitch-and-catches for South Carolina throughout the game.

Whether Alabama’s coverage was broken or South Carolina’s plays were just the right ones, the Gamecocks converted 47% of their third downs, even scoring a 36-yard touchdown on fourth and 9.

“We could have been way more disciplined in our execution and reading our keys,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. Good preparation has been mentioned a lot around the Alabama program in the last couple of weeks, but in some ways, the production has been hard to see.

South Carolina frequently blitzed, and the Crimson Tide was seldom ready for it, allowing four sacks and nine tackles for loss

Turnovers

Turnovers were an issue again for Alabama this week, and all could be attributed to Milroe.

Milroe had two interceptions and an intentional grounding call that resulted in a safety, which gave the ball back to South Carolina. 

The first interception came with only 11 seconds left in the first half. Milroe attempted to hit Cole Adams in heavy coverage on the right side of the field when defensive back Jalon Kilgore stepped in front and snatched the ball away for the Gamecocks.

The second interception came when Milroe attempted to hit Germie Bernard deep in the left corner of the end zone, where there was again heavy coverage. 

“​​I gotta do a better job with having great eye discipline, great details, and managing the field,” Milroe said. 

Milroe has now thrown at least one interception in each of the last three games. 

Alabama will face Tennessee next Saturday in Knoxville on ABC at 2:30 p.m. CT.