Alabama wrapped up its regular season with a 28-14 Iron Bowl win over Auburn. Just the previous week, however, the Crimson Tide got pummeled by unranked Oklahoma 24-3, highlighting the Crimson Tide’s trend of inconsistent showings in 2024.
Just two weeks before the loss in Norman, Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide traveled to Death Valley and dominated LSU 42-13. The win was largely due to quarterback Jalen Milroe’s 185 rushing yards and four touchdowns and the Alabama defense’s three turnovers.
However, against Oklahoma, Milroe had only seven rushing yards and no touchdowns while adding three interceptions, and the Crimson Tide defense only managed one turnover.
Head coach Kalen DeBoer attributed the lack of consistency from LSU to Oklahoma to not winning the turnover margin, saying that’s how the team has gotten off to fast starts.
“We didn’t have that momentum that you need. We went into an environment and we let the environment be what it was,” DeBoer said. “We didn’t grab a hold of it like we did at LSU, and [the environment] kind of took over the place.”
The up-and-down play hasn’t just been a problem the past few weeks.
Early in the season, when the Crimson Tide beat then-No. 2 Georgia 41-34, a large part was Milroe passing for 374 yards, running for 117, and scoring four touchdowns while the defense forced turnovers and three sacks. Then, against unranked Vanderbilt the following week, Milroe only had 10 rushing yards and committed two turnovers, one of them a pick-6. At the same time, the Crimson Tide defense took a major step back from the previous week, forcing no turnovers and not getting any sacks, which led to a shocking 45-40 loss.
The next two weeks continued the downward trajectory for Milroe, as he had four combined turnovers in the 27-25 win against South Carolina and the 24-17 loss against Tennessee. The defense had played well and forced seven combined turnovers in the game against South Carolina and the first half against Tennessee, but the second half of that game saw the Crimson Tide fail to force a turnover or stop the Volunteers offense, leading to 24 points allowed in the second half.
“We can’t bring it together,” DeBoer said after the loss in Knoxville. “One side of the ball has highlight moments, and the other side stumbles and [has] some missed opportunities.”
But the team looked like it had turned a corner in the three games following the loss at Tennessee. After the previous three-game stretch, during which Milroe had six turnovers, he had none over the next three games, and the team won against Missouri, LSU and Mercer. The defense also looked like it was starting to play reliably well, only allowing 20 points in the three-game stretch and forcing nine turnovers.
However, the same issues from earlier in the season resurfaced against Oklahoma, contributing to the crushing 24-3 loss.
One potential factor in the Crimson Tide’s inconsistency was the inability to play as well on the road as the team did at home in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide went 4-0 in SEC play this season at home with wins over three ranked teams but went 1-3 on the road.
A large part of the home/away discrepancy was Milroe’s play. He had seven touchdowns and seven turnovers in four away SEC games while having 11 touchdowns and six turnovers in four home SEC games.
The dominating 42-13 win against LSU to hand the Tigers its only loss of the season showed that Milroe can be dominant on the road, as four of his five away SEC rushing touchdowns came in this game alone. It was also his only SEC away game without a turnover. Then in the next away game against Oklahoma, it seemingly looked like all the progress Milroe made against LSU vanished.
The defense is also a notable factor in the inconsistency. The unit forced only four turnovers combined in the three SEC losses while being able to force 13 takeaways in the five SEC wins.
“Really, it’s disappointing,” DeBoer said of the team’s inconsistency. “Because I feel like we’ve done a good job of building up [consistency] over the last month.”
Ultimately, the failure to be consistent throughout the season is a big factor why the Crimson Tide had three losses and did not find itself in the College Football Playoff.
