Alabama football defensive coordinator Kane Wommack has proven time and time again he’s not afraid to share what he didn’t like in a previous game and what his defense needs to do better.
Ahead of Wisconsin, Wommack demanded more takeaways. He said it was “unacceptable” that the Crimson Tide didn’t acquire any during the South Florida game. Then Alabama forced two fumbles against the Badgers.
“We were able to create 12 (explosive plays) as an offense, and we gave up four overall, so we won the explosive play battle, and we won the turnover margin, certainly pleased with that,” Wommack said.
But Wommack also shared at the beginning of the open week that precedes Georgia week where he wants improvement.
“I still think there’s some things we’re not doing well enough in the run game right now,” Wommack said. “I think we’ve got to continue to work in cleaning up some of our fundamentals and techniques. I also think schematically, when we call some of our pressures, we have not executed those things well enough up front. So those are things we’ve got to continue to work (on) and preach.”
Alabama gave up 149 yards on 41 carries (3.6 yards per carry). For reference, the Crimson Tide rushed for 181 yards on 34 carries (5.3 yards per carry).
Alabama also limited Wisconsin to 3 of 14 on third down, but Wommack still wanted better.
“The numbers look like we were dominant,” Wommack said. “I didn’t think we were as dominant as we’re capable of from a third-down standpoint. I think we gave too many yards to them that allowed them to feel like they were put into, from an analytics standpoint, what we call go-scenarios, where they were able to go for it on fourth down.”
Wisconsin finished 3 of 4 on fourth down in the game.
“We got one fourth down stop early, which was really good,” Wommack said. “But I thought we missed some opportunities as a third-down defense, and (that’s) something we’ve got to work to improve on.”
Overall, Wommack wants his players to make the most of the open week. He wants to “continue to move in a direction to where we can be a dominant run-stopping defense.” He doesn’t think the Crimson Tide is there yet as a team.
“Plenty of work to do,” Wommack said, “a lot of things to correct, a lot of young guys with experience they will learn from as we carry into SEC play and take advantage of this (open) week.”
No. 4 Alabama will face No. 1/2 Georgia on Saturday, Sept. 28 (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
