What happened to Alabama football’s defense in loss to Vanderbilt?

What happened to Alabama football’s defense in loss to Vanderbilt?

The Alabama football defense had been dominant on third down.

The first four games of the season, every Crimson Tide opponent struggled on the crucial down.

Before Saturday, Alabama had allowed 11 third downs on 64 attempts, a conversation percentage of 17.2%. That ranked second-best in the country.

Then Vanderbilt found a way to make that third-down defense look obsolete.

The Commodores went 12-for-18 on third down. Yes, Alabama gave up more third-down conversions to Vanderbilt than it had the other four teams (Western Kentucky, South Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia) combined.

The Crimson Tide defense couldn’t get off the field for much of the day. As a result, No. 1 Alabama fell to Vanderbilt 40-35 on Saturday at FirstBank Stadium.

“We’ve got to do a better job of being disciplined,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Do our job. (Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia) keeps things alive with his feet, whether it was third down or other downs. They converted some third-and-longs. Great execution on their part. Obviously we expect to do good on third down too. We’ve done great things on third down. Been more fourth down. Guys certainly are frustrated about that.”

The third-down conversion rate was one of the most glaring stats for an Alabama defense that often struggled to find answers to Vanderbilt’s option offense.

Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson cited issues in man coverage. Penalties also proved problematic at times when the Crimson Tide was in a position to get off the field.

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