Alabama film study: What the tape says about a defensive disaster against Vanderbilt

Kalen DeBoer isn't a fan of what-ifs, but that had to be the mood when his team rewatched the film from its 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt. Just one week after notching the biggest win of the season so far, Alabama was on the wrong side of one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

"There's some things that we're gonna look back on (on Sunday) and be really frustrated about," DeBoer said.

Yes, Alabama fell victim to an obvious trap game, but make no mistake: Vanderbilt outplayed the Crimson Tide on Saturday. The Commodores , with two weeks to prepare, orchestrated a game plan to keep Alabama's offense off the field and understood it would take a clean game and clutch plays in big moments to make it happen. Vanderbilt nearly tripled Alabama's time of possession, won the turnover battle 2-0, scored 13 points off turnovers and committed fewer penalties. Checks across the board.

The expanded Playoff and the chaos that happened elsewhere on Saturday softened the blow to a degree and kept the season's goals in play, but Alabama's performance in Nashville shows it still has a long way to go, even with a win over a top-five team to its credit.

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This week's Alabama football film study dives into the highs and lows of Saturday's loss.

What happened on defense?

A holding penalty negated this Vanderbilt touchdown, but the tackling effort on this play set the tone for our review of the Alabama defense.

Season-long red flags reemerged to doom the Tide on Saturday, and tackling has been an issue for the defense since Week 1. Pro Football Focus credited Alabama with nine missed tackles on Saturday: two by Jihaad Campbell and one each by Qua Russaw , LT Overton , Tim Keenan, Deontae Lawson , James Smith , Malachi Moore and Jah-Marien Latham .

But the key ingredient of the defense's disappointing day was its inability to get off the field when needed. Vanderbilt started dominating third down (the Commodores finished 12 of 18) by establishing its physicality early. On its opening touchdown, Vanderbilt opened a huge hole on the left side on third-and-1. Jihaad Campbell met the running back in the hole but was driven back into the end zone.

Later, Red Morgan stopped Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers short of the first-down marker, only to have Stowers drag Morgan over the line for the conversion.

In some instances, Vanderbilt just had a great play call. Coming off an idle week and fully locked in on Alabama, the Commodores knew they needed to hit on some explosive plays. The option gave Alabama trouble throughout the game, and Vanderbilt used pre-snap motion and an option look to free up a shovel pass for a huge third down conversion.

This offense ran a style of option that Alabama hadn't played yet this season, the defense's 166 rushing yards allowed didn't reflect a unit that was prepared for the scheme.

This play is a snapshot of Vanderbilt's creativity and Alabama's lack of attention to detail. Vanderbilt gave Jah-Marien Latham the classic choice of closing on the quarterback or the running back with a twist. As he was in the gap trying to play both options, a Commodore in motion came back around into the gap and blocked him out of the play. Meanwhile, Jihaad Campbell was way out of position, and the result was a good gain on first down.

Only three Vanderbilt drives all game didn't end in points: two punts in the second and third quarter, and the final possession in which the Commodores knelt out the clock. Only one drive lasted fewer than six plays: a four-play touchdown drive.

Alabama's defense has forced fewer three-and-outs as the season has gone on: seven against Western Kentucky and South Florida , three against Wisconsin , two against Georgia and none against Vanderbilt.

Alabama dropped from second nationally in third down defense to ninth (28 percent conversion rate). Meanwhile, fourth down hasn't been a bright spot: Opponents have converted 73 percent of their fourth down tries against Alabama, good for 112th nationally.

Vanderbilt scored this touchdown on a fourth down on Saturday. Quarterback Diego Pavia did a good job of extending the play, and all the defensive eyes in the backfield allowed the receiver to go streaking down the middle of the field.

One player who deserves some positive recognition is Que Robinson, who accounted for three of Alabama's seven tackles for loss. Robinson led all outside linebackers in snaps (29) followed by Qua Russaw (21), Keanu Koht (14) and Yhonzae Pierre (6). He's been known more as a pass rush specialist this season, but plays like this where he shed his block for a tackle for loss will earn him more opportunities on early downs.

Highs and lows (but mostly highs) on offense

Alabama's lackluster defensive effort masked the fact that the offense was pretty prolific on Saturday, averaging 8.6 yards per play and scoring 35 points in 46 plays over less than 18 minutes of game clock. It was a strong day overall for Jalen Milroe , even though he was credited with two turnovers.

Milroe's completed 76 percent of his passes Saturday and has shown particular growth with rhythm throws. It was also encouraging to see Milroe work the middle of the field with confidence.

Milroe also had success when he went through his progressions. On this play, he surveyed the entire field before coming back to Ryan Williams on the sideline for a first down.

The offense produced 10 explosive plays (seven passes of 15-plus yards, three runs of 10-plus yards), and Milroe accounted for eight of them. His long touchdown pass to Ryan Williams is getting a lot of love (rightfully so), but this deep shot to Germie Bernard deserves some attention as well.

Milroe's early interception was kind of a fluky play. He didn't throw an inaccurate ball nor put it in a dangerous position, but the defensive back made a good break on the ball, and it floated in the air to tee up a pick six.

The sack-fumble is on Elijah Pritchett , who had a rough day at right tackle. Pritchett was the only starting Alabama lineman credited with pressures allowed (4). As a unit, Alabama's offensive line allowed a 22.2 percent pressure rate, an improvement from its 27.8 percent season average. A case could be made that Milroe should've felt the pressure coming, but unofficially the snap-to-sack time was 2.5 seconds — not a lot of time to make a decision.

An unexpected bright spot was Geno VanDeMark (22 snaps), who played almost as much as Jaeden Roberts (24 snaps) at right guard and performed well. The highlight of his day came when he pulled around and jump-startedan explosive play by Jam Miller just before halftime. VanDeMark has been an ascending player in practice recently, which led to more snaps. Whether it continues remains to be seen, but it's a good sign for the unit's depth.

(Photo: Steve Roberts / Imagn Images)