Wisconsin had its chance to cut Alabama football’s lead to one score at the end of the first half on Saturday. The Badgers lined up for a Nathanial Vakos field goal from 44 yards out, after the junior had already made one from 53 early in the first half.
No such luck the second time around. Vakos went wide right, and Alabama had a decision to make.
The Crimson Tide could have taken a knee. Instead, DeBoer opted for a killshot.
“We’re gonna be aggressive,” the head coach said after the game. “We’re had three timeouts so a lot of time with those timeouts. When you’ve got playmakers like we have, you want to give them a chance to make plays, and every possession matters.”
First, quarterback Jalen Milroe dropped back and found freshman wideout Ryan Williams. The Saraland product found some space and got out of bounds 47 yards down the field.
Already, Alabama was in field goal range.
“The first throw down the sideline to Ryan really set it up to no we’re looking at getting points no matter what,” DeBoer said.
It wouldn’t be Graham Nicholson scoring for the Tide though. Starting from the Wisconsin 26, Milroe looked to throw again.
A post-corner sprang Germie Bernard open. Milroe had to place the ball perfectly against the sideline, and Bernard did well to slow down and get a foot inbounds, but the duo executed.
“It was a great, great call by coach (Nick) Sheridan,” Milroe said, crediting the Tide’s offensive coordinator. “It was all about getting Germ in space. He does a really good job getting on the toes of defenders and making a lot of space, so it allowed the room for me to just push the ball down the field.”
Alabama never looked back after that. The Crimson Tide took the momentum from the three-play swing and wound up with a 42-10 win, moving to 3-0 on the season ahead of an open date, followed by a home battle with No. 1 Georgia.
If it’s faced with the same situation, don’t expect a change to UA’s aggression for that game.
“Was all about finish,” Milroe said. “Whenever we have time on the clock, it’s all about the finish, execution of the play call and just keep on building and building. So I thought we did a really good job on offense, being sound with everything that we did.”
