Goodman: Alabama doesn’t know how to play for its new coach

This is an opinion column.

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Fittingly, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer decided to go with a black T-shirt for his brush with death on Saturday against South Carolina.

What is wrong with this team that once looked so good against Georgia?

Is it arrogance, as Nick Saban suggested on ESPN College GameDay? Is it poor preparation by the coaching staff?

Or is Alabama just another Florida State without Saban as the coach?

Seriously, what is it going to take for Saban to come out of retirement? Maybe he doesn’t even need to be the head coach. Maybe he can just be a part-time defensive coordinator.

Here’s an idea. Just fire current defensive coordinator Kane Wommack before Monday and let Saban work two days a week.

Saban is already on the payroll. It wouldn’t exactly be charity work.

There’s so much to question after Alabama 27, South Carolina 25. Where to even begin?

For those few Alabama fans still paying attention to the football team this season, we’ll try to understand it together.

Alabama’s inexplicable cratering since that first half against Georgia is one of college football’s great mysteries, but this much we know. This team is getting worse and worse since then and, until further notice, the Crimson Tide shouldn’t be considered a contender for the playoffs.

That’s going to sting, but Alabama’s fall is like nothing we’ve seen. Last week, it was the 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt and this week the Tide played even worse at home.

Saban retired after the 2023 season, but it’s not like he left the team in disarray. This is all on new-guy DeBoer, who dresses for games like he shops at Walmart for clothes and defensive game plans.

And why does everything that comes out of DeBoer’s mouth suddenly sound like gibberish?

“There are just so many times where we talk about finding a way to win,” he said after the game.

Huh?

Excuse me?

More like Alabama found so many ways to nearly lose.

If you’ve ever seen someone walk into a glass door, that’s basically what happened to Alabama with under two minutes to go in the first half. And things didn’t get any better after that. Alabama didn’t win so much as South Carolina found ways to blow it.

First it was South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers fumbling in the third quarter.

Then South Carolina missed a field goal in an attempt to take the lead.

And then South Carolina missed the two-point conversion to tie.

And then, THEN, the Gamecocks failed to get it done after recovering an onside kick.

Alabama should be thanking the heavens and some of those questionable calls, too.

South Carolina kicker Alex Herrera missed a 50-yard field goal to give the Gamecocks the lead with 6:08 left. Alabama got so lucky. It was a holding call by South Carolina earlier in the drive that saved the Tide. Did Greg Sankey make a call? Nice try, Greg. Certainly, the SEC commissioner knows at this point that his league has no business being represented by four teams in the College Football Playoff.

I know that ESPN is really going to make a case for Alabama to get into the CFP, but let’s be honest here. Alabama looks like it might be good enough to make the Music City Bowl. Back to Nashville, baby. Maybe Alabama can get a rematch with Vandy.

DeBoer’s team is regressing week to week. Why? I keep calling him a good coach, but I’m starting to have serious doubts.

Let’s start with the most basic of things. Alabama was supposed to come into its game against South Carolina supremely motivated after the loss to Vandy. After taking its initial 14-point lead against South Carolina, Alabama allowed a touchdown, a safety and then a field goal faster than a frat bro can chug a beer.

Why is quarterback Jalen Milroe getting worse?

Why is safety Malachi Moore playing like a child?

Why does DeBoer continue to wear T-shirts and hoodies during games? For many, it’s all related. Alabama’s lack of discipline and its tendency to make simple mistakes in key moments are all characteristics of an untucked and disheveled team going backwards.

When Milroe threw his touchdown in with 1:54 left in the fourth quarter, my first thought was that Alabama scored with too much time on the clock. South Carolina steamrolled its way down the field and countered with ease, but then quarterback Sellers missed a wide-open receiver in the end zone on a failed two-point conversion.

Alabama wasn’t even tough enough to get anywhere near the ensuing onside kick. How is this team going to win in Knoxville next Saturday?

South Carolina lost to Ole Miss 27-3 last week, so this was a bounce-back game for the Gamecocks, too. Alabama was outplayed, but still managed to win. That doesn’t make Alabama a good team, though.

Alabama defensive lineman LT Overton saved the season when he recovered that South Carolina fumble in the third quarter. It was one of the only positive plays for Alabama’s defense in the entire second half.

With a little bit of film on Alabama’s defense, opposing offenses are making new defensive coordinator Wommack look silly. He left South Alabama as a head coach to be an assistant for DeBoer at Alabama. Maybe he’s just rusty. Alabama can only hope. Otherwise, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel will destroy the Tide with his play calling.

With so much talent on the roster, Alabama’s sudden mediocrity is one of college football’s biggest mysteries of the first half of the season. I know this much, though. After the past two weeks, it’s pretty clear that the Crimson Tide doesn’t know how to play for its new coach.

MAILBAG

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”