NASHVILLE — Kalen DeBoer's thoughts about Alabama football did not change after Saturday's 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt .
"I feel we have a great football team," DeBoer said. "We weren't at our best today."
Looking back on the first loss of his tenure , DeBoer's attention turned to two specific aspects: defensive third-down efficiency and communication.
Against Alabama 's defense, Vanderbilt converted on 12 of 18 third-down opportunities, keeping the Commodores offense on the field for more than 42 minutes. And while DeBoer gave credit to Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia 's ability to create plays, he called on his defense to "do a better job of just being disciplined and do our job."
"He keeps things alive with his feet, whether it's third down or other downs," DeBoer said. "They converted some third-and-longs, and those are the frustrating ones. Just great execution on their part. Obviously we expect to do good on third down too, because we have done great things on third down. More fourth down. Guys certainly are frustrated about that, and we'll look into it and understand that they attacked us in a few different ways."
DeBoer said the Vanderbilt offense's time-of-possession dominance continued to "wear on your defense when you're out there that long."
Alabama's defense allowed 418 yards and 40 points. It was the first time Alabama allowed 40 points to an opposing offense since Oct. 15, 2022 against Tennessee .
In the second quarter, an illegal numbering penalty against Alabama on a Vanderbilt punt was called as both cornerback Zabien Brown and wide receiver Ryan Williams – both donning No. 2 – participated in the same play.
After the mistake, DeBoer said Alabama was "well aware of that situation and just got to do a better job."
"Those are the things that really hurt you, because they kept the drive alive and then ended up scoring a touchdown," DeBoer said. "Just that hump that we couldn't get over with a lot of the game. And that was the early one."
Alabama had not lost to Vanderbilt since 1984. It was the Crimson Tide 's first road loss to the Commodores since 1969.
"We win as a team," DeBoer said. "We lose as a team. That's all of us."
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 felt went wrong for Alabama football vs Vanderbilt
