NASHVILLE, Tenn.–– From the opening drive of the game, Alabama’s defense struggled to stop Vanderbilt’s offense and trailed throughout. The Commodores led by as many as 12 in the second half. The closest Alabama came was within two points early in the third quarter.

The Crimson Tide cut the deficit to five points on a Ryan Williams touchdown with 2:46 remaining. Vanderbilt had the ball for nearly 40 minutes at that point, scoring on six of eight drives.

Instead of making an onside play to get the ball back into Jalen Milroe and the offense’s hands, Alabama opted to punt the ball away to Vanderbilt, hoping the defense could make a stop with three time- outs, plus the remaining two-minute warning. . Once again, Vanderbilt shredded Alabama’s defense and held on for the 40-35 win.

After the game, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said they paid “a lot of attention” to an onside play.

“Understanding everything with the timeouts and the two-minute warning and everything, it really felt like we were going to be in a good spot,” DeBoer said. “Even if they got one down first, depending on when that was, we could still have a fair amount of time on the field. I don’t think it was a matter of finding guys and executing and bringing the ball down and scoring offensively. It was just a matter of getting the ball back.”

And that was true. Alabama had been moving the ball well on offense, outside of two turnovers. But when push came to shove, the defense couldn’t stop it.

“Obviously when things don’t go your way you always look back and have doubts. Maybe we should have tried to sideline it but I felt good about the decision at the time and to be honest I’m still doing well now .”

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was confident in the defense’s ability to stall and give the offense the ball back. He said the attacking players were talking among themselves and developing a game plan for when they would return to the field. However, they did not get the chance.