Well, that was about as frustrating of a half of football as we all expected. Alabama and Vanderbilt both chewed up a lot of clock, both turned the ball over just a few yards from scoring, and, at the end
of it, went into halftime tied up 14-14, despite it feeling like neither defense really ever managed to make many stops.
Ty Simpson threw an interception on 4th down on the very first drive when it looked like he was throwing to a wide open Isaiah Horton, but a weird route concept had the tight end crossing just underneath him and the trailing defender got the interception. I’m not sure if it was a bad throw or just bad luck, but it wasn’t good. Vanderbilt answered with a 58-yard breakaway run for a TD. Joy.
The next drive saw Alabama go right back down the field for another 50 yards, overcoming a couple of penalties, but Connor Talty missed the 46 yard kick. At this point, Kalen DeBoer may not attempt another field goal this season. Vanderbilt turned around and drove right up to Alabama’s goalline, about to go up 14-0, but Justin Jefferson stripped the ball away from Diego Pavia at the very last nanosecond, and the Tide turned that into a 12-play, 92 yard statement drive to tie it up.
The two defenses then somehow both got quick stops to force punts, but Alabama lost the field position in the process and set Vandy up with a 38-yard short field. The Dores took 10 plays to get those 38 yards, including a shovel pass on 3rd and 10 and ANOTHER shovel pass for the TD. It was frankly embarrassing for the Tide defense, and they almost burned rest of the half doing it.
Fortunately, Kalen DeBoer was a maestro with his timeouts, giving Alabama’s offense a minute and 28 seconds to work with before half time. Turned out, Ty Simpson only needed 1:11. Ty completed 4/4 passes in the intermediate parts of the field, finishing them off with a cover 2 hole shot down the left sideline to Germie Bernard for the game-tying TD.
Simpson completed 13/18 for 188 yards and a couple of TDs, while Jam Miller gobbled up 73 yards on 10 attempts for Alabama’s best RB rushing performance of the year so far. Unfortunately, a redzone interception and a missed field goal underscored their impressive performance.
Meanwhile, Alabama’s defense was nearly useless against the veteran Vanderbilt offense, again, outside of a redzone turnover.
The second half is going to be a long one. Either the Alabama defense figures out how to step up, or Ty Simpson and crew will just have to operate with a razor thin margin for error and outscore Vanderbilt, even as they shorten the game with long, drawn-out drives.
Hope for the best. Roll Tide.
