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Kalen DeBoer talks through emotions of Alabama’s crunch-time win over Georgia
Kalen DeBoer appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday and talked through some of his emotions in the final minutes of Alabama’s win over Georgia on Saturday.
After Georgia took the lead over Alabama with just a couple minutes remaining, it seemed like the Tide were on the ropes after blowing a 28-point lead. Of course, just 1 play later, Ryan Williams would give the Tide the lead right back with a 75-yard touchdown catch.
But when talking to Finebaum on Wednesday, DeBoer wanted to focus on the play before that — Alabama’s stop on a 2-point conversion attempt to limit UGA’s lead to just 1 point.
“I think the play before, the 2-point conversion attempt, was something I felt was really key too,” DeBoer said. “Our guys, even in the midst of just giving up a touchdown, defensively, we lined back up and we get the stop there … What that does is that is that it just tells you that a field goal can win it.”
DeBoer then gave credit to Williams and quarterback Jalen Milroe for making the play that ultimately put Alabama ahead for good — but he did question whether or not the Tide had inadvertently left too much time on the clock for Georgia.
“When Jalen identified Ryan one-on-one, it’s something that we’ve been working on a lot,” DeBoer said. “Being able to throw the ball down the field and those 2 connected. Then Ryan just doing his thing.
“Then the next thought is, ‘We left too much time on the clock.’ That’s forever, that’s an eternity nowadays with the 2-minute warning, 3 timeouts … I don’t get too nervous about things until there’s a bout a minute or so to go. That was a lot of time that was left on the clock but you’re never gonna argue against guys doing what they did there in that moment.”
Georgia had 2:18 on the clock when it got the ball back down 41-34, but the Bulldogs were unable to score again. Cornerback Zabien Brown picked off Carson Beck in the end zone in the game’s final minute to seal the win for Alabama.
Here’s video of DeBoer’s comments:
Pleasure to catch up with @AlabamaFTBL HC @KalenDeBoer today. Listen here as he walks us through the frantic finish in TTown. pic.twitter.com/tXv3VnpGh8
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) October 2, 2024
Alabama will face Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.