Kalen DeBoer addresses decision not to onside kick late vs. Vanderbilt

Locked in a dogfight against Vanderbilt, Alabama scored a touchdown with 2:46 remaining to get right back into the contest by cutting the lead to 40-35.

Still, a lot needed to go right for the Crimson Tide. But all three timeouts remained, giving coach Kalen DeBoer some flexibility in how he approached the ensuing kickoff.

Alabama kicked it deep.

DeBoer explained after the game his thought process on doing so and how much consideration he gave instead to a potential onside kick.

“A lot of consideration,” DeBoer said. “Just understanding everything with the timeouts and the two-minute warning and all that, just really felt we were going to be in a good spot even if they got one first down. Depending on when that was we would still be able to have a good amount of time to move down the field.”

On the very first play Alabama had to have felt it was in pretty good shape. Vanderbilt star Diego Pavia ran a quarterback keeper and lost two yards, making it second-and-12.

Alabama burned its first timeout with 2:37 to play.

Then Pavia produced a spectacular play, rolling to his right and hitting receiver Sedrick Alexander short of the sticks. He had plenty of room to run, though, gaining 19 yards and a first down in the process.

Now Alabama was in the danger zone.

Vanderbilt lined up and gained three yards on a simple run. Alabama burned another timeout, with the clock at 1:18. Then Pavia gained eight yards on the ground, essentially icing the game even though Alabama would then call its final timeout.

The Crimson Tide never got the ball back with a chance to score, and within minutes the field was flooded with fans wearing black and gold, a major upset secured.

DeBoer further explained his thinking on not going for an onside kick against Vanderbilt. In part, it was due to his confidence in the offense being able to execute quickly if needed.

At the end of the day, Alabama just couldn’t get the stop it needed. But by the sound of it, DeBoer would do it all the same way again.

“I don’t think it was a matter of us being able to find guys and execute and get the ball down and score offensively, it was just a matter of getting the ball back,” DeBoer said. “Obviously when it doesn’t go the way you want you always look back and second-guess, maybe we should have tried to onside kick it. But I felt good about the decision at the time and honestly I still do right now.”