Kalen DeBoer Evaluates Ty Simpson's Performance Against South Carolina

Then-No. 6 Alabama took down South Carolina 29-22 on the road this past Saturday, but it wasn't pretty.

Alabama's offense struggled for most of the game, as the Crimson Tide finished with just 72 rushing yards on 23 attempts. Additionally, quarterback Ty Simpson's 56 percent completion percentage was his worst mark since the Week 1 loss to Florida State.

"I know that you can look at just one thing, I mean completion percentage, he's an accurate passer, really accurate and his standards are extremely high relative to others," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said during Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference. "That alone right there is an indication that, for one reason or another, we weren't hitting as clean and as efficient as we'd like to.

"Of course, that always falls on the quarterback, you know, it always does. But there's other ways we could have helped him. We could protect a little bit better. You can run a route a little bit route a little bit better, and you can catch the ball a couple more times on those balls that were catching contact.

"So it's a full unit, and it does fall on Ty. But he again made the plays down the stretch, and he battled. If there was anyone that believed, it was him. That was certainly something our team felt, and that's why they kept playing until the very end."

Despite the subpar first three quarters, Simpson stepped up when it mattered most. The redshirt junior led a long drive late in the fourth quarter that resulted in him throwing a touchdown pass to wide receiver Germie Bernard, and he then proceeded to connect with tight end Josh Cuevas in the end zone for a two-point conversion to tie the game at 22.

"That was impressive, I think all-around, from the guys — the coaches, the coaching staff just really being patient, and taking it one play at a time," DeBoer said when discussing the two-point conversion during the postgame press conference. "Knowing that when you got to get the two-point conversion, but just trusting and believing that our guys would execute.

"They did. Just stack plays. Everyone did their job. We didn't have any penalties that really hurt us. We didn't have those negative plays that hurt us. Just everyone locking in, doing your job and trusting your buddies."

The Crimson Tide defense built off this momentum swing led by co-captain Simpson, as fellow captains Deontae Lawson and Tim Keenan III joined forces to create a takeaway. Lawson forced a fumble, Keenan recovered and a few plays later, Bernard scored the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute to go.

Overall, Simpson, who has increased his NFL Draft stock and Heisman Trophy odds it seems every week, finished the game completing 24 of 43 pass attempts for 253 yards and two touchdowns. He aims to build off this comeback effort against LSU on Nov. 8, following Alabama's current bye week.

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