Kalen DeBoer criticizes offense after first-half performance vs. South Carolina

Through two quarters in Columbia, Alabama has only 14 points on the board against South Carolina. And seven of those are from the defense, getting a pick-six early on. Not what head coach Kalen DeBoer imagined heading into the game. For the most part, the unit, led by quarterback Ty Simpson, has been surgical in first halves.

Clearly frustrated heading into the locker room, DeBoer took some time to criticize his offense when speaking to ESPN’s Katie George. He seemingly wants to simplify a few things coming out of the break.

“It’s not what we want,” DeBoer said. “It’s not what it’s supposed to look like. We just got to make the easy throws, the easy catches, and give our guys a chance. It’s execute the base stuff. So, we’re trying to do too much sometimes.”

Some of the frustration might stem from a poor drive to close things out. Alabama got the ball back after a great defensive stand with 1:23 on the clock. They wound up running 10 plays for a total of 47 yards — 23 of which came from Germie Bernard as time expired. An opportunity to put up points was there, and one the Crimson Tide missed.

In total, Alabama gained 173 yards of total offense. Only three of those came on the ground, once again struggling to put anything together in the run game. Maybe an avenue DeBoer looks to open more moving forward. Otherwise, Simpson will need to elevate once again to help Alabama avoid an upset loss.

On the flip side, DeBoer was a little more complimentary of his defense. Stopping LaNorris Sellers figured to play a massive role in this one, no matter how the Alabama offense performed. So far, so good for the Crimson Tide defense — something DeBoer wants to see carry over.

“They’re doing a great job… getting the stops,” DeBoer said. “I like where we’re at there. So, we’ve just go to make sure we put together the second half well.”

Sellers has thrown for 132 yards while completing 11 of 20 passes. There is the aforementioned interception as well, watching Alabama take it back for a touchdown. Not much is on there when you look at Sellers’ rushing stats either, going for eight yards on 10 carries. All in all, it’s a performance DeBoer and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack can be happy with. Still, 30 minutes remain inside Williams-Brice Stadium.