What Alabama's Kalen DeBoer believes went wrong in shocking loss to FSU football

The Florida State Seminoles produced one of their most important victories in years after they took down the No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday by a score of 31-17.

The 'Noles outgained the Tide 382 yards to 341, including 230 yards on the ground compared to Alabama's 87.

'Bama head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke to the media following the loss, stating that he still believes in his guys but that there's "no excuse" for the result. He also talked about Florida State's run game and even their utilization of "funky" snap counts.

What Did Alabama Head Coach Kalen DeBoer Say About Florida State Following The Defeat In Tallahassee?

DeBoer gave his opening comments and was also asked about FSU's ground game on Saturday.

"Alright, had some opportunities to get back in the game there. The name of the game is that we can't be hesitant early on. We've got to start faster in all ways. Yes, I know we went down and scored on the first drive, pieced some plays together and found a way to put it in the endzone, but just the next couple series - both sides of the ball - we've got to do a better job, we've got to do a better job."

"And we had opportunities there in the second half, but we gave them life. We gave them hope and confidence in the first half there and then what it does is it puts you in a spot where you've got to be perfect and you're playing from behind and you've got to be perfect and the stress on the guys to make every play becomes greater and greater."

"I choose to believe we've got a good football team, but we can't play on our heels. We're not going to be what we think we can be, what we want to be if that's the case and so that falls on everyone. I don't just point the finger at the players."

"I know both sides of the ball you kind of what you're going to see going into the game with new coordinators, but we talked in the locker room, there's no excuse about what happened. We stepped on the football field, they stepped on the football field and we've got to play ball."

"We've got to play our style of ball and last year isn't this year and it's going to be an uphill climb for us, but you can't think of it in the scope of things, you've got to focus on the moment and the next moment is what happens tomorrow."

"And we'll find out, we'll find out. We've talked all along about chemistry on this team, about how close we are, how hard we worked, doing a lot of the right things, but we'll find out, we'll find out if that sticks."

Moreover, a reporter questioned DeBoer on FSU's run game effectiveness, as the Seminoles had over 230 yards on the ground.

"You knew going in with the quarterback runs it was going to be a challenge. He did a nice job, I thought in the first half of keeping some drives alive on passing downs, ones that weren't called runs. They did a nice job of going sideline-to-sideline, did a lot of things with those fly-sweeps we worked on, we prepared for. Guys get one on one, in space and you've got to find a way to get them on the ground."

"You've got to use your leverage, you've got to find ways to trust your buddies around you that they're in pursuit and they were piecing together first downs, they kept on the field and they hit the explosive down the sideline in the first drive. They're going to make plays too, I can live with that, but we've got to respond."

"Coming out in the second half, I thought we settled in, other than the one play. I really felt third quarter going into the fourth quarter, defensively we kind of got our feet underneath us, had an idea of the rhythm of what they do offensively and how we call plays. They do some funky things with the snap count and all that kind of stuff and it kind of keeps our guys kind of wondering what's next and not in our own rhythm."

"I think we got through that after the first half, but then we give them the run, we give them the play and then we let them out with the penalty at the end, the late hit. We can't live in the grey area, we've talked about that all season long. It isn't just about that play. It's other things, but that certainly adds to it."

Additionally, Coach DeBoer was asked about Alabama's inability to score once in FSU territory, citing the notion that 'Bama entered the Seminoles' side of the field seven times but only scored thrice.

"That's probably, from a frustration standpoint, that's the thing that is frustrating. You win the game and you look at those drives and you're saying hey there's first downs that you're piecing together, you're giving yourself chances, but when you lose the game you look at and you understand that there's got to be some competitive stamina, it was a long drive, the first one and it was hard work."

"You had to execute, you had to make some big plays and you did it. Now you've got to go back out there and you've got to do it again and you've got to stack play after play after play. We'd have a negative play or that missed opportunity, there was some opportunities there that we either didn't give ourselves a chance to make or just missed."

"Not going to live in regret, not going to live in regret. We've got to go fix it and be better because of it and evaluate the film and move on."

The video and excerpts of DeBoer's postgame comments are sourced from BamaCentral on SI. For the full transcript, visit their website here.

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