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Tim Smith couldn’t lie. After Alabama football allowed a South Carolina touchdown on a 16-play drive to start the second half Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide defensive tackle was “pretty gassed.”
“Definitely going play after play after play like that, I can see how anybody would be tired, especially going against 600 pounds play after play,” Smith said. “You have no choice but to be tired.”
It was the moment the Crimson Tide defense broke down, one that nearly cost the team its fifth win of the season.
Holding onto a slim two-point lead heading into the third quarter, South Carolina began a methodical scoring drive, one where the Gamecocks averaged nearly six yards per play, one where the offense converted on all five third-down attempts including a 1-yard touchdown run by Raheim Sanders to give South Carolina a lead.
Alabama narrowly avoided its first regular-season losing streak since 2007 late when Domani Jackson secured a game-winning interception to beat South Carolina 27-25.
Sixteen plays. Nearly nine minutes of game time off the clock. It was a familiar sight for Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer.
In Alabama’s loss to Vanderbilt Oct. 5, the Commodores had two touchdown drives that lasted more than six minutes, including a back-breaking 17-play, 75-yard drive that kept the Crimson Tide on the field for nearly 10 minutes in the second quarter.
Those two offenses, DeBoer said, are “built to have drives that continue to have plays stack on top of each other,” something that has proved demoralizing to Kane Wommack’s defense.
“The running back, quarterback, guys that just kept moving the chains, three yards, four yards, trying to get in those third-and-ones, third-and-twos, converting on slants or something like that just to keep the drive alive,” DeBoer said.
“Obviously it’s…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/pretty-gassed-alabama-defense-responded-213908429.html
Author : The Tuscaloosa News
Publish date : 2024-10-12 21:39:08
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