Why Alabama Opted Not to Onside Kick in Final Minutes of Vanderbilt Loss

Kalen DeBoer explained why the Crimson Tide chose to kick the ball away after Ryan Williams' second touchdown.

Oct 5, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Ryan Williams (2) catches a pass and carries it in for a touchdown against Vanderbilt Commodores linebacker Randon Fontenette (2) during the second half at FirstBank Stadium. / Butch Dill-Imagn Images

NASHVILLE, Tenn.–– From the opening drive of the game, the Alabama defense struggled to stop the Vanderbilt offense and trailed the whole time. The Commodores led by as many as 12 in the second half. The closest Alabama got was within two points at the beginning of the third quarter.

The Crimson Tide cut the deficit to five points on a Ryan Williams touchdown with 2:46 to go. Vanderbilt had possessed the ball for almost 40 minutes at that point and scored on six of eight drives.

Instead of going for an onside kick to get the ball back in Jalen Milroe and the offense's hands, Alabama opted to kick it away to Vanderbilt, hoping the defense would be able to get a stop with three timeouts, plus the two-minute warning remaining. Once again, Vanderbilt gashed the Alabama defense and held on for the 40-35 win.

After the game, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said they put "a lot of consideration" into going for an onside kick.

"Understanding everything with the timeouts and the two-minute warning and all that, just really felt like we were going to be in a good spot," DeBoer said. "Even if they got one first down, depending on when that was, we would still be able to have a good amount of time to be on the field. I don’t think it was a matter of us being able to find guys and execute and get the ball down and score offensively. It was just a matter of getting the ball back."

And that was true. Alabama had been moving the ball well on offense outside of two turnovers. But when it came down to it, the defense couldn't get a stop.

"Obviously, when it doesn’t go the way you want, you always look back and second guess. Maybe we should’ve tried to onside kick it, but I felt good about the decision at the time, and honestly I still do right now.”

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was confident in the defense's ability to get a stop and give the offense the ball back. He said the offensive players were talking amongst themselves, getting together a game plan for whenever they got back out on the field. However, they did not get the chance.