Kalen DeBoer didn't hear how Ty Simpson reviewed Alabama football's offensive performance.
Postgame Saturday, Aug. 30 after Alabama's 31-17 loss to Florida State, Simpson, Alabama 's quarterback called the Tide's first offensive drive "great," a showcase of an offense that "knew what we wanted to do," one that was "confident." Every drive after that left a bit to be desired.
"I think that we got a little complacent and we thought that we won on the first drive, and that's not how it is," Simpson said. "Credit to those guys; they played hard for four quarters. We kind of took it for granted. We got to sit here and finish drives."
That is the Alabama offense DeBoer saw too.
In that first drive, Alabama's head coach said the offense did exactly what it was supposed to: move the ball downfield, put play after play together and keep the Seminoles offense off the field. Like Simpson, DeBoer focused on the "finishing" aspect: the three failed fourth-down attempts, the seven times Alabama finished drives in FSU territory that ended in three scores.
"We went out there and executed a lot of drives," DeBoer said. "We just have to do a better job at sustaining it. If there's a complacency, I guess, maybe not taking for granted that you get down into their territory, that's automatic. You got to make that happen. You got to do it. We got to do it."
Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said if players and coaches do see complacency, it will be addressed. He did recognize a shift from that first drive to subsequent Crimson Tide drives.
"I did think that there were some times where we didn't look as strong as we did in the first quarter," Grubb said. "So those are things that we are addressing in practice and certainly things have shown up that the guys know that the preparation part will show up in the game. For us, we just have to keep focusing on being strong during practice, being strong throughout the game. I think you could see that, yeah, we didn't have a good second or third drive as we did in the first."
It's simple to DeBoer. To solve an offense that looked "complacent," in the words of his quarterback, DeBoer said Alabama must finish.
"You got to do it," DeBoer said. "No one else is going to go out there and magically put it in the end zone for you."
Alabama continues the 2025 season Saturday, Sept. 6 at home against Louisiana Monroe. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. CT on SEC Network
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer, Ryan Grubb talk 'complacent' Alabama football offense
