Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer on ending his first season with a loss in the ReliaQuest Bowl

Yeah, you bet. Um, just, um, congrats to, to Michigan here. Um, obviously, we dug ourselves on *** hole in the first quarter. Um, the turnovers, you know, gave them great field position, done our defense did *** good job. Um, most of those drives of, uh, holding them to field goals, uh, gave us *** chance, uh, loved to fight in our team, you know, at the end of the first half to, to gain some momentum. Um, you know, just got to finish some drives there and, uh, at the end of the 4th quarter and, uh. You know, that's, that's what it comes down to. So make *** throw, make *** catch, um, you know, guys play their hearts out though, never gonna never gonna question, uh, the competitiveness, um, some guys out there playing through, uh, playing through *** lot, you know, when it comes to, um, even just, uh, the physical pain that they're, they're trying to grind through, uh, trying to finish this thing off right. So feel for those guys, um, want the guys that, uh, obviously you're gonna be coming back to. Remember this feeling, uh, remember some of the feelings throughout the year, um, but, uh, we gotta, we gotta keep building, continue to move, move, uh, move forward. Thanks, folks. With that, we'll start with Chase here on the right, the mic. No Mike, go ahead. Um, early in the 4th quarter, you had *** 4th and 7 on Michigan's 34, you throw incomplete there. Was there *** strong consideration for kicking *** field goal there, make it 1613, which maybe could have made *** difference later. Uh. Yeah, you think about it, um, felt like at the time, and obviously, now we know that he, uh, he can kick the one at the end, uh, you know, from that distance, just felt like we were on the fringe of really what the percentages were, um, understanding who we are. And again, it sounds like you don't, uh, don't have confidence in your kicker, which I do, um, but, uh, just felt like, you know, we can convert *** 4th and 7. And, um, or was it 4th and 7? Yeah, 4th and 7. And so, Um, you know, unfortunately, we didn't, and, um, felt like the passing game when we were. You know, executing, um, which that's *** big part of it, right? Uh, that, uh, you know, we could find *** way to to convert and get the balls to get the ball in, uh, the right guy's hands and let them go make *** play. uh, you to stick with that first quarter. What was that decision. Well, I think there are some elements that played. I know even the, the pick, um, you know, I mean, that's *** really nice play, um, you know, you, you throw it maybe 2 inches out further and it's ***, it's *** catch for us and, uh, you know, I'm not sure if we run out of bounce or what there, but, uh. You know, they made *** nice play and, uh, you know, just, uh, you guys were there, you saw the elements on the snap. I mean, that's, you gotta, gotta feel it. You can't turn it over. Um, they, they struggled, I think, uh, and fortunately, they had the field position. Fortunately for them, they had the field position where they didn't have to really press until, uh, till the rain kind of moved through, but. Um, that certainly didn't help us and kind of dug ourselves *** rut, uh, had to play *** little different style again. Um, but I, hats off to our guys they're just at the end of the first half of understanding, hey, just get one score, and then 1 score led to 2. Uh, you know, I wish we could have just done something there. I think in the end of the 3rd quarter, the 4th quarter, uh, where we get, you know, maybe *** field goal, uh, get some points on the board, uh, put the ball in the end zone. stuck to the left side, Charlie, kind of stimulate coach, for he said, would you consider at all maybe make the quarterback so. No, I didn't. I just felt like, you know, I, I mean, there's things that he still did, you know, we scored *** field goal, uh, You know, with him using his legs, uh, we went 95 + yards, uh, in less than *** minute, you know, and so just that factor and what we needed, uh, with him and his mobility, uh, added to the run game. I felt like that was, uh, you know, the, the swap right there. So, I mean, the interception early, um, you know, and you want *** lot of those incompletions happened in down *** distances that weren't favorable, um, or backs the wall and have to throw the ball at the end of the first half, at the end of the second here. Um, so I know that gets away from you from the from the, from the, uh, completion percentage. But, you know, I thought there were still *** lot of good plays that he made too, and I saw, I guess, *** fighter, uh, the, the fight in his eyes, you know, and as long as I see that, um, I wanna hang in there with the guys that, uh, this program means *** lot to. To stay on the left side. No Yeah, just given the, the lack of depth of receiver, you guys didn't really go to the running game as much. Uh, was that just because they were stopping you, or was that, what was the reason for doing that by? Yeah, I mean, I, I think that, you know, they're one of the top 5 rushing defenses, and I know that there's personnel on both sides, both teams, uh, that were different, maybe from what you would see in the regular season, uh, both us and them. Um, but, you know, I think there, there was certainly, uh, um, part of our game plan to where we felt we needed to spit the ball out and, and get the ball in the right guy's hands and You know, try to do that and, you know, whether it was slipping or incomplete passes, um, some of those plays didn't get executed the way that, uh, you know, you practiced them for the last 23 weeks. So, um, you know, yeah, we, there were some runs that, uh, I think, uh, jam at the end of the game, um, poured up in there at the end of the first half. I really thought he did *** nice job getting us, uh, out from under, out from out, you know, from out, uh, behind our end zone there. So, um, you know, he ran hard and You know, I think just having *** little bit of *** balance was important for us in this game just because of kind of who they were and *** little bit of uh what we felt we could do to attack them. Go to the far right, Matt, do you think? I mean, I, you know, every time you're in *** locker room and you have something like this, it's, it's, it's disappointing. Um, but I, I think there's, uh, *** lot of things that you, you take from it. And, um, I mean, I know that the guys that hung in there that probably played their last game in the Crimson and, and white, um, they wouldn't have had it any way, other way, you know, as far as to, to show the grit, show the determination, to show the competitiveness, uh, Um, they stayed the course. Uh, there's, there's *** whole lot more. I just think that really goes into, uh, the last 12 months. Um, people see what happens on *** Saturday, but it's, it's, uh, it's guys choosing to stay here, uh, guys choosing to, uh, you know, go from one week to the next, uh, you know, when you're on *** little bit of *** roller coaster through the middle of the season. Um, you know, and as long as we learn from it, uh, then to me, then it can be *** success moving forward. You know, we, we're gonna take all these things that happened, um, and there's some things that happened in the game today too, that You know, we gotta learn from and and make sure that those mistakes don't hurt us *** year from now. Uh, I don't care if it's turnovers, penalties. I don't, you know, it's, it's everything. And so to me, um, it's *** success if we move forward and we take advantage of the lessons, uh, even though we don't want to learn those lessons sometimes, right, um, because they're hard, uh, we're gonna learn from those lessons, move forward and be better next year because of it, so. You know, I told the, the guys that played the last game, you know, um, how much I appreciate him. Uh, I know the teammates shared how much they appreciate him as well in the locker room, and, um, you know, we're gonna, I know they're gonna make us proud when they move on to the next level, and, uh, I promise to them we're going to continue to make them proud with the fight and, and the standard of, uh, competitiveness that they instilled in this, uh, this program here moving forward. Mike was there an explanation on the sideline. I think just ran into someone on our team. I'm not sure who, yeah, or what. All right, we got 2 more questions. Start with Katie. You talked about how you should comply with the end of the first half and were able to kind of carry that momentum at the halftime. Why do you think you weren't able to kind of keep it going? Um, yeah, you know, got, uh, I mean, there's the, the losses were the ones that hurt us. Uh, *** sack, um, you know, being behind the chains, uh, that's what they thrive on, right? Their defense, uh, does *** good job of, of, uh, thriving on, uh, you know, being physical, force you into down distances where you're behind the chains and, uh, you know, when that happened, it's tough to overcome against ***. *** team that, uh, understands their identity, uh, plays team football. Uh, we knew the game would get shrunk down, uh, we need to kind of knock out the first quarter, which you can't do because that's part of the game. Uh, and all of *** sudden it takes on *** different, uh, you know, game of its own because you're down 16-0. Um, you know, you're just fighting, scrapping and trying to give yourself like *** chance like we did at the very end. All right, last question. General hasn't announced In terms of what next year looks like, but looking back at your time with him, how have you seen him? how you seem to kind of respond to being I guess the face of your. Yeah, well, I think everyone would probably share the same feeling I have is that, um, you know. I mean, the guy always speaks about the team. He always speaks about his teammates, um, you know, it's, it's not about him and, uh, he leads that way every day, you know, in our program. And, you know, when you're the quarterback of any football team, um, the eyes are always on you and, uh, especially when you're at Alabama, and, uh, you're going through. Some ups and downs once in *** while in the course of the season. Um, it takes on, it takes on *** heavy, heavy burden sometimes. And, uh, he's just steady, he stays the course, um, and, you know, I just, I guess, you know, the, the fighting him, the, the ability to move forward, um, I thought that that is something even in the midst of. Uh, times when he maybe didn't make *** play that he could have made or wanted to make or even *** mistake, you know, which everyone's gonna make *** mistake here and there. Um, I thought that that's one area where he's really improved, especially the last half of the season. And, uh, I think our guys appreciate that in him. Uh, I think that they, uh, have taken that, uh, we've taken that on as *** team too, uh, and always trying to move forward even when we're not perfect. You bet. Thanks. Roll tight.