It was a weird decision but there really was nothing we could do. Conventional wisdom is use your timeouts, try to force a kick and get the ball back with as much time on the clock as possible. We used our timeouts, but then the runner picked up the first down. At that moment: game over. Yeah, the Bama kicker is only 69%, but that's due to his low % beyond 40 yards. Inside 40 yards, he's perfect. If we stop the runner at the 13 instead of DQ backing off, they're looking at a 30 yard kick. They probably would have taken a timeout. Run a play to center up the kick and then stopped the clock with a few seconds left for a chip shot kick down the center. Have we blocked a FG this year?
Reality is, the second that ball popped out of Sellers' arms we were done for. IF we could have stopped them on 1st and 2nd down, maybe a different story, but they easily picked up the first 1st down. Even so, we only had 2 timeouts. If we stop them on 1st and 2nd down and take timeouts, then they run a 3rd down play and if we stop them there, they bleed the clock for a likely game winning FG.
Beamer's plan was a long shot, but us blocking the kick was a long shot as well. You're probably looking at a 1% chance of success vs a 5% chance of success.