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Kalen DeBoer said he called a timeout with 4:24 remaining in the fourth quarter of a blowout to make sure everyone was on the same page. DeBoer wanted a shutout for the Alabama defense. With Missouri set to snap it on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Alabama just needed 1 stop to secure its second shutout of the DeBoer era.
On the other side of the timeout, Justin Okoronkwo and Damon Payne Jr. stuffed Mizzou’s Marcus Carroll for a 1-yard loss and Alabama took over possession of the football. Richard Young ran for 62 yards 2 plays later to get the Tide out of the shadow of their endzone, and they were able to run the clock out on a 34-0 victory.
“Really wanted them to get that shutout there,” DeBoer said of the fourth-down play after the game. “If there was any type of question at all, I wanted to let us get our feet in the ground and play football. Wanted that for them because I know they’ve been working extremely hard and just staying the course.
“Appreciate the effort today. It really kept us right there to where once the offense then got it rolling better … we really started playing a full team game.”
Alabama held Missouri to 239 total yards of offense — a season-low from the Tide’s perspective.
The defense forced 3 turnovers — all of them interceptions off backup quarterback Drew Pyne — and limited the Tigers to 3.8 yards per play. Alabama won the early downs and only gave up 1 play that gained more than 15 yards.
After 3 consecutive weeks of stress and angst, Saturday’s result was exactly what the doctor ordered.
“You’re only as good as your last play, right? And you’re only as good as your last game. There are things that you make sure you know you do well, and there’s certainly some good vibes when it comes to taking the football away defensively,” DeBoer said. “They’re hunting it. They’re anticipating it a little bit. So, a little bit more of an attacking mindset. Not so much on their heels. And just making every yard count.”
In the last 3 games, Alabama has 10 takeaways.
After Vandy rolled over Alabama on third downs, the Tide have been much better in that respect as well. South Carolina went 7-for-14. Tennessee went 6-for-14. On Saturday, Missouri was 3-for-13.
“Those are momentum builders. Those are the positives that you can take from today, apply it, and everyone kind of looks at each and believes you can go make that play and get that stop,” DeBoer said. “That is definitely something we can build off of. Now they know they’re capable of it. Now we’ve got to line up and go do it again.”
The Tide are on a bye next week. On the other side, they face LSU on the road.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
