Alabama Has to Be Better in 'Response to Adversity' during Road Games

Alabama's road struggles under Kalen DeBoer have been well documented. Through one and a third seasons as the Crimson Tide head coach, Alabama is undefeated at home but is 2-5 away from Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Next up for the Crimson Tide is a massive road test at No. 5 Georgia to open Alabama's SEC schedule next Saturday. Alabama had success against Georiga in DeBoer's first season, snapping the Bulldogs' 42-game regular season winning streak.

Alabama opened the season with a disappointing loss at Florida State. The Seminoles were coming off a 2-10 season, but now find themselves inside the top 10 after the win over the Crimson Tide. After losing in Tallahassee, DeBoer talked about the importance of Alabama starting fast on the road, and defensive coordinator spoke about "protecting the sideline" during road games.

DeBoer spoke during Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference about what his team has to do to have more success away from home, starting with Georgia next week.

"Our preparation has got to lead to confidence," DeBoer said. "You gotta weather the storm, the storm’s that come early. And again, you’ve got to play four quarters of football. You don’t have the help from the crowd or anything. It’s got to be on you— you and your guys around you. Take ownership in doing your job right and doing and doing it at a high level and knowing you’ve got to do it over and over and over again.

"There’s going to be adversity, and it’s about the response to adversity. That’s where we’ve got to be better.”

Alabama scored first on its opening drive at Florida State, but the Seminoles responded right back with a touchdown drive of their own. The Tide found itself facing it a 17-7 deficit at halftime that ballooned to 24-7 in the third quarter. Alabama cut down the lead to a single score in the fourth quarter, but it proved to be too big of a hole to climb out of on the way to a 31-17 loss.

It was a similar story in some of the road losses last season with Alabama facing early deficits against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide can't afford to dig itself into a big hole against a team as talented as Georgia.

"We’ve got to make sure we keep our edge," DeBoer said. 'We just gotta continue to be deliberate, be intentional. Those have been some of the common themes I’ve stressed to the guys. Whenever we do things, we gotta be moving and operating with a purpose. It’s lead to just really positive, and good body language and effort that’s kind of been contagious throughout our football team. We’ve got to keep that energy high. We’ve got to understand that we gotta keep getting better every single snap we take, whether it be in practice or in the course of the game, it’s all about us being our best and continuing to improve. We’ve done a lot of that over the last two weeks. There’s still a higher ceiling yet to be had."

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