What Kalen DeBoer Said After Alabama Defeated Oklahoma in the First Round of the College Football Playoff

NORMAN, Okla. -- No. 9 Alabama went into Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium and fell into a 17-0 hole in its first round College Football Playoff game against No. 8 Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide proceeded to score 27 straight points to take the lead. The Crimson Tide won the game 34-24 and will advance to the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal against the Indiana Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl.

Head coach Kalen DeBoer spent time with the media after the game to discuss what went right and wrong for his program in the dramatic first round game.

Transcript Courtesy of ASAP Transcripts

DeBoer’s opening statement…

“I just couldn’t be more proud of these guys. The resiliency, it’s been kind of a theme all season long, but showed up tonight in a big way on the road, down 17, and coming back the way we did, just one score at a time and just really stayed the course. Each side of the ball had their moments and big plays, and we just kept plugging away. But last night, we talked about it being a team that’s gonna have to come out here and play together, and that’s exactly what I saw tonight. And so, couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”

DeBoer on choosing to kick a field goal to go up 10, rather than go for it…

“I think to go up 10, make it a two-score game, give us that cushion there, I felt like we were in a good field goal range. And just outside of probably six yards, seven yards, a lot of different things they can dial up. But we went for it earlier, and that was two to three, I think in the first quarter or second quarter. And that was probably a little different situation, especially when you got your backs to the wall. But when we got the lead, taking a two score lead, that was actually a pretty easy decision on that one.”

DeBoer on what prepared the team to be able to bounce back tonight…

“No, you’re exactly right, especially on the road, we couldn’t overcome. And a lot of times, it’s just guys making plays and just continue to stay the course. And we just talked about that so much this offseason. A couple of things, just what we’re gonna do and how you chip away. You can’t go score a 17-point touchdown. You gotta score one score, even if it’s three points. And that’s what our guys did. I really felt, and I know ZB got the interception right before the half. That was big. But I was actually feeling really good about the spot we were in before that. If we can go in 17-10 and get the ball to start the third quarter, we’ve clawed our way back in.

“You know it’s gonna be one that goes down to the wire. And then the interception really just, man, it gave us a lot of life going to the locker room at halftime. And so, we fed off that, and guys, I think, realized 0-0 game. And just went out there, just kept applying more pressure and applying more pressure. And the field position, really, in the second half, or as this game went on, kind of flipped from what it was in the first quarter, where we couldn’t move the ball. They got shorter fields, and then we finally got the punt, the block there, and that kind of got the shorter field kind of thing going for us, and that carried on in the second half, which helped us a lot.”

DeBoer on what he saw from Ty Simpson, especially in the second half…

“I just saw a guy committed to just bringing energy. And your quarterback’s so important, and obviously with Ty and our success revolving around what he can do. He committed to it last night, and said it to the whole team, that I’m just gonna give you everything I got from an energy standpoint. And I think that just led to him going out there and making some plays. Him pulling the ball on some times when you could just hand it off, a little bit of the RPO stuff, him doing that in some critical moments, it was really great to see him do that. And then our guys go make some plays for him, was the second part of it. Something that when we’re struggling, just someone not stepping up. I felt like they did that in the first quarter. They made some diving catches and along the sideline, and we were just coming up short. But guys started making plays for him. He started having confidence in them, and they found a way to move the ball.”

DeBoer on how Alabama fuels itself off the doubt; how it can build off of this…

“There’s no question, the doubt piece, there’s enough confidence within our group to where we can see the doubters, we can see the naysayers, and just go still play our game. And this group is tight enough to where there’s never been any finger-pointing. There’s never been anything like that. I think Deontae said it really, really well. We always talk about the game’s gonna come back to us. We have too many good players, and if you just keep fighting, you’re gonna force them to make a mistake. Something’s gonna happen.

“Just keep coming after them, play after play, and the game’s gonna come back to you, and that’s what happened tonight. The game came back to us, and all of a sudden, we found opportunities where we could attack and go take advantage, and then more plays being made. So this was hopefully something we can really build off of, get into the next two weeks now. Again, putting a good game plan together, get a chance to go on the road, go out west and play in the Rose Bowl.”

DeBoer on how big were special teams, especially in the second half…

“Really big. The punt early in the game, and just obviously Talty making his field goals. Windy, it was kind of swirling. You stand on one end, it’s going one way. It kind of gets inside the stadium, goes the other. Just didn’t really feel like he was affected by it. And really proud of him, the way he’s continued to just stay the course. Get the team to support him by just continuing to work, and the guys have done that. Again, no finger pointing ever. And just love the way these guys come together. So we know there’s gonna be more battles ahead. There’s more great teams out there. It’s gonna be the next one against Indiana. We know that they’re a special team, and they got a special season going. And so, it’ll be a great challenge for us.”

DeBoer on Lotzeir Brooks’ first two touchdowns; his growth this season…

“Those were his first two total? The guy, he’s got twitch. He’s got the ability to separate. And then he’s really good with the ball in his hands. And so, I think you saw a little bit of all that happen, whether it would be on a third down there in the first half. The touchdowns, winning before you catch the ball, and the other one winning after you have the ball in your hands. And so, love the energy he brings. He’s pretty loose, easy going. And sometimes I make sure I gotta reel him in a little bit. But man, that’s when he’s at his best. So just let him be who he is. Kind of figuring out your players as you go through the season. He came out and had a great game. You can see him and Ty really connecting and being on the same page.”

DeBoer on calling a timeout before Zabien Brown’s pick-six…

“Yeah, we had one more, was that a second down? And so, just really if you can try to, yeah, if they wanna be aggressive and you can get an incomplete pass, we can get one more shot. Again, you’ve seen us go down the field at the end of a half and try to get three points, seven points. Make them have to punt it, especially with what had happened earlier. Just, you can go after them and just keep applying pressure. Make them snap it again. And just felt like where we’re at in the field, I know they got a really good field goal kicker, but they weren’t far from being in his range either. But that’s just how we’ve kind of played. And you’re not reckless, but you also wanna be aggressive.”

DeBoer on the vibe on the sideline when down 17-0…

“Ty seemed pretty confident. But I think it just goes back to that I know what I was echoing and trying to get guys to believe in is just one score. Just get one score. And even a 10-point game going into the half. You just get one more in the third quarter, make it a one-score game, or just chip away. A year ago when we were in this very place, that’s what we had said. We were down, I think, 21 points at one point. And we just said, ‘Hey, if we can get seven points on the board by the end of the third quarter,’ and we had an opportunity there right at the beginning of the fourth, a play that wasn’t called a touchdown. But we just knew that, just get one.

“And those are the things in the offseason we’ve talked about. What do you do when you’re in that spot? And just chip away. Just put a pressure on them. Even at the end, it flips the other way, right? I mean, they got their opportunities, too. You just wanna put the game away. But there’s two good teams going at each other. And so, that was our mindset, just play the next play, get some points on the board and just keep coming after them. There’s a whole half of football. The games can go fast, but it’s a long game. There’s a lot of plays. There’s a lot of momentum swings that are gonna happen. And our guys were just steady through it all.”

DeBoer on an address of some kind after the SEC Championship Game…

“What’s done is done. And once we got into the playoffs, this was our opportunity, right? We wanted that game, we wanna win an SEC Championship. What was behind us, it wasn’t anything we could control anymore. But greatness lies in the future, and so that’s what we really focused on. And having a couple weeks, and we knew we’d get some of these guys back and healthy. And that was key, I think, for us to feel that we can become the team that we know we’re capable of, and so don’t overthink it.

“It’s a lot of guys doing a little bit better in everything that they can control. And when that happens, that’s really what happened even during the game tonight. Everyone just did a little bit better. And then all of a sudden, because of the players you have, they go make a play and change a game. And so, just everyone kind of owning their space, owning the issues that we had in the past, correcting it and just being all in. That was a message here the last couple days, just being all in. And so, that was really the case since that game two weeks ago.”

DeBoer on Tim Keenan’s blocked punt…

“We weren’t going after it. I think we were in pretty much a conservative situation there. And so, just the way it got dropped and he picked up the ball. I mean, the field position against an Oklahoma team is so critical with their defense, so that was huge. That was really huge for us. And the takeaways and the field position just really kind of was the opposite of the first game back at home. There’s more things we can point to, as well, but that was the case. We got the interception for a touchdown, and we got the shorter field there in that case and took advantage of it.”

DeBoer on if Simpson has done anything different to improve his ball security…

“Just being really conscious of it. We’re just talking about that all the time, and all of our guys. But again, the ball was out a couple times tonight, and we just gotta, it’s something you can just not take for granted ever. And Ty knows how important it is. And sometimes, he’s in those vulnerable positions, but he knows he’s gotta take care of the football. And that’s a priority for our football team. It has been all season. And it was good to see him, I know he got hit a few times, but he took care of it. And that, first and foremost, was what he needed to do.”

RYAN GRUBB: It wasn't pretty for sure. Played really good defense. But made the plays when we had to. There was definitely some we left out there, but I got in the locker room and I just told the guys, that's the guys I know. That's the fight that I saw all the way back in August and in spring, and just seeing it come to life today, the last thing I told them was job not done. We're still rolling.

KANE WOMMACK: Great fight by our football team. When you're down 17-0, the way that you have to protect your sideline, the energy, to go on a 34-7 run after being down 17-0, that's what we're trying to build this team on. You think back on where we have gone, and you think about a year ago not being able to answer the bell and not punch back, and now I think all our kids do is they fight, they punch, and they just keep punching, and that's the only way you come back from a 17-0 game like that. You play great team football. You play complementary football.

Love the energy and juice. Our sideline is a living, breathing organism, and our guys are doing a great job of putting themselves in position.

Great football teams get better, and this is the time you just continue to work and strive. But that was a good team win that we just had right there.

Q. What kind of momentum shift was that from Zabien?

KANE WOMMACK: About like all momentum shifts from a pick six come. When you can not only flip the field but then score in that situation, really awesome.

I thought our offense was ready to answer the bell. They answered the bell in just critical times. When you're down like that, to get something going, the pressure that you think about what they were bringing, and credit them, they had a really good plan early on coming into this game. They changed tendency at pretty much every 1st, 2nd, 3rd down, and our players did a really good job of just adjusting.

We saw something that we thought we could get them and bait them into it. We had showed a little bit of zero pressure, and then all of a sudden we baited to a drop-eight cover two, and Zabien made a hell of a play.

Q. For Coach Grubb, I understand you were back in the booth after a couple games on the sideline. Can you just speak to that change back?

RYAN GRUBB: Yeah, Coach Shephard is obviously at Oregon State now, so Tyler Hughes, one of our senior analysts, is coaching the receivers. That's a big job on the sideline, getting the right guys in the game.

With his eyes not up in the box for me and Coach Dahlen wasn't here, he's been at Oregon State, so having him all week, so I just felt like just to be accurate and make sure I've got the things I needed from the sky -- normally I have a couple guys up there giving me information and I feel really good about that, but didn't have that exact scenario, so just felt like it was the prudent thing to do to be up there and make sure I got good pictures.

Q. Coach Grubb, what did you see from Lotzeir tonight stepping up, just really the whole game as a freshman, especially that first 3rd down conversion of the game that was y'all's 1st down, just how he stepped up tonight?

RYAN GRUBB: Well, not to TMI here, but I saw Herbstreit in the bathroom at halftime, and he was like, man, you were right, Brooks is the guy. I just had a feeling, I had said before the game, that I thought Lotzeir was in a position in this game plan to step up. We see it every week from 17 just on the practice field. We've got a really talented field with him and Ryan and Isaiah and Germ, but those are the plays we needed to have from all those guys, and I don't think there's anybody on that sideline that was surprised a bit that 17 made those plays. He's a stud.

Q. Kane, obviously that was an offense you guys limited somewhat in the first game and then they storm out to a fast start. What was the message on the sideline to those guys making sure they don't get freaked out by that?

KANE WOMMACK: Well, I think we talked about it before the game, there was going to be wrinkles, there were going to be things that they did. I thought they had a great plan early on. I thought the quarterback played out of his mind in the first half. He was dialed in, did a really good job.

We didn't affect him early enough from a pass rush standpoint, and then we started affecting him, and then it drastically changed the outcome of the game.

Just finding ways to just settle in, let's see what their pictures are, let's see what their game plan is, what they're going to do, and then being ready to adjust whichever way we needed to.

We haven't played a lot of man coverage this year, but that was what we needed to do to win the game. Our DBs were begging for it. By the time we got to the second half, they wanted it. That's what you want. You want kids that are fighters, that want the ball in their court. They want to be challenged. They want to go challenge people.

Our players won this game. They won the game with sheer will.

Q. Ryan, what did you see from Jam, whether as a runner or as a pass protector?

RYAN GRUBB: Jam did a good job. We tried to keep his reps down a little bit. Him and Daniel obviously shared the load back there tonight, and I thought he did a good job when he was in. He's still nursing back to health a little bit, but he's a soldier, man. He was out there battling. I thought he did a good job.

Q. Ryan, was it something that you changed there toward the end of the second half that let things maybe get more of a foothold, or was it just execution got better?

RYAN GRUBB: I think there's the ebb and flow of every game, and certainly there were some looks that we had gotten to that I knew we had to be able to come back to in a different way and made sure they were in the same coverage structure being able to go after it.

The guys did a good job executing that.

Obviously Coach Venables does a great job of presenting a lot of different pictures, so I think getting the guys in a position where they could formationally feel familiar with what was going on out there gave Ty a little bit of freedom, and then I thought they do as good a job as anybody of putting pressure on your quarterback.

It wasn't perfect; I know we gave up sacks, but there were some critical moments that we had some really big pickups.

Q. Coach Grubb, tell me what you've seen from Josh these last few weeks fighting to get back and what he gave you tonight?

RYAN GRUBB: Unreal. Josh Cuevas is one of the toughest kids I have ever seen play football, mentally, physically. To be able to do what he did tonight is absolutely unbelievable.

People that are a little bit older remember Terrell Owens coming back and playing in a Super Bowl with a broken foot. I think he had a spiral fracture. You think about those kind of stories with a guy like Josh. We didn't think there was anyway he was going to play, and he just kept saying he was going to find a way, and the doctors and Jeff do an incredible job, and they got him back out on the field.

His mindset and his perseverance is special. It's really rare.

Q. Ryan, why is playoff football so different than the regular season?

RYAN GRUBB: Well, I think there's obviously a finality to it. Certainly your back-against-the-wall mentality. I think everything feels a little bit more on edge.

I think as much as you'd love the week 2 game to be just as important or as much intensity, I think sometimes when you have that mentality that's win or go home, I think certainly that puts some different value on the game, I guess.

KANE WOMMACK: I think we have been playing like a win-or-go-home mentality all season long. It's a mentality thing as much as anything.

You think about where we were coming out of the Florida State game, these players have had a supreme urgency to get themselves better every single week, and great teams just get better. They just take little steps to go out on a Tuesday practice and then go out and prepare.

I thought our guys prepared with the same level of dedication that they've been preparing for all season long, and it put us in a position to go fight and win the game.

But the cool thing about the playoffs, we didn't come here to win the first round of the playoffs. We're going to enjoy the hell out of this. We're going to celebrate it with our players. We're going to talk to them and praise the things that they did well. But we've got to correct the things that we didn't do well enough as well as we move into the second round.

Great job by our guys, but this is not the end for us.

Q. Down 17-0, no one outside of the building thinks you guys have a chance. Why was this team able to pull that off today?

RYAN GRUBB: I would credit, unfortunately, a little bit of the SEC Championship. There was an address made just with the guys, the mentality that you have to have in a football game that games aren't over when it's 14-0, especially when you're getting the ball in the second half.

I didn't feel the same resolve in Atlanta that I felt here tonight. I didn't feel like the guys were -- even when it was 17-0, talking to Ty on the headset, getting with some of the coaches, I felt like there was a belief that the defense was going to make a play, we were going to make a play, and nobody was giving up.

Ultimately something happens and springs it loose, and that's what it really takes is to keep that momentum and that mindset. Somebody has to make a play eventually, and when you do and you have a big play, it brings it all to life.

KANE WOMMACK: Yeah, you don't win those games without great culture. You have a great team culture. You've got a bunch of fighters, a bunch of punchers. That wasn't who we were a year ago. We learned how to do that. We fought to do that. We prepared in the off-season. Dave Ballou and our fourth quarter program and Jeff Allen getting players back, our players, our leaders stepping up in those moments, we've learned how to fight. So now we have a culture of fighters, and that starts with our head coach who's a puncher, and it just rubs off on the rest of our coaching staff and our players, and that's how you win games like that.

Q. Coach Grubb, can you talk about the utilization of different offensive linemen tonight, whether it was seeing Jaeden Roberts for the first time in quite some time and obviously you've been mixing in Geno VanDeMark, just the mixing of the offensive line and still being able to have a performance like this?

RYAN GRUBB: Well, really the starting lineup is the starting lineup with Michael at right tackle and Wilkin at right guard. It really was more of just keeping guys healthy and keeping them fresh, so just giving the guys a blow there for a series. Got J-Rob in there and then Dew and Geno have been rotating a little bit more quite a while, and a little bit of that's Dewberry's foot, just trying to make sure he's okay, and Geno is banged up, as well, so those two older guys is like .5 and .5 and they make one guy, but they did a good job.