Kane Wommack doesn’t want his Alabama football defense calling them “turnovers.”
“He says takeaways,” defensive lineman LT Overton said Saturday, confirming the Crimson Tide defensive coordinator’s preference.
Whatever the title, UA didn’t have any of them against South Florida. Wommack was unhappy with that situation in the week leading up to the Tide’s first road test, against Wisconsin.
“Extremely disappointed in the lack of takeaways that we were not able to create,” Wommack said of the effort against USF. “Their team did. They created three of them. We were minus-three in the turnover margin, which is absolutely unacceptable by our defense.”
Problem solved against the Badgers. Alabama forced two turnovers, which led to 14 points in the 42-10 victory at Camp Randall.
It was the culmination of a weeklong effort.
“We put in way more turnover circuits,” Overton said of the practices leading to the Wisconsin game. “Making sure, ‘How are we gonna get this ball?’ In any way possible?”
The Crimson Tide moved to 3-0 with the win, heading into a bye week. After that, Alabama will face its toughest challenge yet, when No. 1 Georgia travels to Bryant-Denny Stadium.
If UA is to pull off that win, it will need some takeaways.
“Those guys are playing aggressively, playing confident, and they’re going to come in bunches,” Kalen DeBoer said after the game. “I feel like we’re just still at the tip of the iceberg of what we can do to take the ball away.”
The first turnover came in the second quarter. Wisconsin running back Chez Mellusi broke out for a 21-yard run, but Alabama’s Malachi Moore sat and waited.
Moore put his body on the ball, which popped out. Freshman corner Zabien Brown jumped on it for the Tide, which turned the opportunity into a touchdown seven plays later.
In the third quarter, Deontae Lawson made a play, freeing the football from Cade Yacamelli’s grasp. Once again, the Alabama offense turned the opportunity into seven points.
There were opportunities for even more. Keon Sabb had a chance at a pick, as did several defensive linemen late in the game.
As Alabama enters conference play, the Tide is feeling confident in its ability to make Wommack’s favorite plays.
“I think that comes from practice,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. “In practice we always emphasize, everybody on defense, take the ball out, take the ball out, take the ball out. Today we made a lot of attempts at trying to get the ball out… There’s going to be plenty more to come.”
