Alabama Emerging as Second-Half Team With First-Half Problem

The Crimson Tide struggled in the first half for the second consecutive game before beating Florida State 50-36.

Alabama Defensive Back Keon Sabb breaks up a pass in the first half of the game against FSU on Sept 19, 2026. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Former Alabama basketball head coach Avery Johnson probably loved the performance of the Crimson Tide football team over the past two weeks.

Johnson often said his games were "a tale of two halves," and that's what Alabama football lived up to against Kentucky and then Florida State on Saturday. After trailing 21-6 midway through the second quarter against the Seminoles, UA ended the game on a 44-15 run.

These 44 points came after a weather delay with 2:36 left in the first half. 14 of the points came in those last two minutes before halftime and the momentum completely shifted. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer shared the keys to a strong start in the latter portion of the game.

"Just keep playing," DeBoer said during the postgame press conference. "I think the mindset, again, is that it's a four-quarter game, and so we've got to execute better. I think we see things, and we just gotta execute, and not give ourselves the one mistake here, the one mistake there. You know, we had a false start, I think, on the first drive, and we were a couple yards short of having a first down. Those are the drive killers.

"And so defensively, we kind of talked a lot about those things already, but you just got to be sharp. Got to be locked in. Can't have the foolish penalty or just the lack of execution. Get your pads on a guy and finish the block. Go out there and have the physicality that we showed the last really 2 1/2 quarters.

"So I think there's a lot of things that our guys will take and build from, and there's a lot of things that we'll look at and be upset about. And so I'm confident in this group that they'll get back to work and never take it for granted. These guys are resilient in a lot of ways, but they're also very competitive. And I saw that tonight again."

And while the second half was very solid, the first, as the aforementioned 21-6 score suggests, was a bit worrisome. The Crimson Tide beat Kentucky 45-17, but trailed 17-13 at halftime. It's great that Alabama's able to start second halves extremely strong, it shouldn't have to dig itself out of a hole against the Wildcats or Seminoles.

The Crimson Tide will have to figure out how to start fast, as it'll face more challenging opponents the rest of the season. This includes games like LSU in Baton Rouge, Tennessee in Knoxville, Mississippi State in Starkville, plus home games against Georgia and Texas A&M. While Alabama has a six-game win streak over Auburn, many of these games were close.

In other words, Alabama can't fall behind these teams and expect to come back so easily. So, how do DeBoer and his staff fix this?

"Obviously we gave up some big plays defensively, and that was something we did a good job last week, and so it's coming in different ways. We've got to finish some drives there early. You know, got some field goals, move the ball down the field after the first drive.

But I feel like a lot of our practice, it's tailored around starting fast. We're always going to look at those things, figure out what we can always modify. But I just really feel strong that our practice actually lends itself to [starting fast], and the setup of our practice lends itself to starting fast with how we operate. So we've just got to execute better.

"I think a lot of it is, as you go through these moments and you learn, and just cut it loose. You might make a mistake. There might be a look that you don't see. Just go play hard. Go play fast. Again, I think sometimes our eyes were in the wrong spot, and they had some things that they were going to throw at us too. Had extra time, and I thought they executed at a high level and played hard. They had an off week last week to prepare for us as well."

DeBoer thanked the fanbase for sticking through delays the moment his postgame press conference started, but these were the words that followed:

"We obviously got to start faster," DeBoer said. "Two games in a row now where we find ourselves behind. And so probably different scenarios on how that happened, but nonetheless, we got to do a better job of coming out of the gates."

Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell, defensive lineman Terrance Green and linebacker Yhonzae Pierre also discussed this after the game. It's clear that this is at the top of Alabama's priorities, and it needs to get fixed quickly.

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