NORMAN, Okla. — Jalen Milroe knows exactly what went wrong on his first interception against Oklahoma in Alabama football 's 24-3 loss to the Sooners Saturday.
The Alabama quarterback said he looked at the rotation on the screen pass, finding it was the right time to work. But he said the ball was thrown too late, leading to Oklahoma defensive back Eli Bowen jumping the ball and securing the interception and a 25-yard return.
"It's a pass we have to complete, so I take full ownership of that," Milroe said. "It was all just going 1-0 after that play."
His very next pass attempt went even worse, landing in the hands of linebacker Kip Lewis, who returned it 49 yards for an interception.
That is when DeBoer met with Milroe on the sideline in a game that had already gone sideways for the Crimson Tide ?
The message? Have no regrets. Keep swinging.
"I thought he was actually putting the ball where he needed to," DeBoer said. "We just needed to help him out a little bit."
Early in the game, DeBoer said "flat out drops," balls lost in lights and other uncharacteristic things happened to set Milroe and the Alabama offense back.
Milroe finished with 164 passing yards with a completion rate of 42.3%. He threw his third interception on his final pass attempt of the game: a hurry by R Mason Thomas that turned into a Woodi Washington interception.
Alabama's loss to Oklahoma Saturday was its first game since Nov. 5, 2011, where the Crimson Tide offense did not score a touchdown, and the first time since Oct. 2, 2004, where Alabama had been limited to 3 points in a game.
"He was fighting and battling, doing a lot of things well for our football team. We just all needed to be a little better," DeBoer said. "I thought he kept battling. I looked in his eyes, I thought he had come a long way all season long in just the way he wants to go out there and keep leading the team. Guys kept fighting for him."
Alabama will take on Auburn at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium on ABC.
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: What Kalen DeBoer told Jalen Milroe in Alabama offense struggles vs Oklahoma
