Kalen DeBoer expresses disappointment in Alabama deep-passing game

Nov 8, 2025; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; A long pass to a wide open Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard (5) is just a shade too long and falls incomplete during the second half of the game with LSU at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama defeated LSU 20-9. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

As the Crimson Tide slowly worked its way towards a 20-9 victory over LSU on Saturday night, there were obvious offensive struggles, from passing inefficiency to the continuous issues on the ground that the Tide has dealt with.

Quarterback Ty Simpson finished the night with 277 passing yards and one touchdown, which was by no means a bad night. However, he was dealing with some inaccuracy issues throughout the game, which isn’t so common for him.

On 35 passing attempts, he missed 14 of them, which led to him finishing the game with a 60% completion percentage and completing just two of six pass attempts that went for 20 yards or more.

Simpson started pretty well, hitting wide receiver Lotzeir Brooks for 47 yards with 51 seconds left in the second quarter, allowing the Tide to put a touchdown on the board and take a 10-3 lead before halftime.

However, in the second half, Simpson found his deep pass attempts going off-target more often than not. In the third quarter, he tried to hit Brooks for a 50-yard gain, but underthrew the ball before overthrowing a 35-yard pass attempt.

After the game, Simpson called the struggles “brutal,” and DeBoer gave his take on it.

“I think that throw to [Brooks] at the end of the half was huge,” DeBoer said. “For us to go down the field that quickly, Ty and [Brooks] seem to hook up when we’re the most covered, so that’s a great play… As far as overall throwing the ball down the field, we haven’t been as consistent as I think we can be. We got the players to do it. There’s just a fine line. A ball just off the finger tips. Timing not quite there. We’ve got to continue to work on that. We’ve shown we can do it.”

It was tough for the Tide, even though the issues weren’t too entirely detrimental. But there were many explosive plays and points that were left off of the board because of the inability to hit the deep ball.

Like DeBoer said, the team has shown that it’s capable of being successful and creating those explosive plays, it just wasn’t able to put it on full display against the Tigers on Saturday night, and that will have to change.

Alabama faces a tough opponent in No. 12 Oklahoma on Saturday, so it will need to ensure that it gets its issues cleaned up before then, or else the Sooners could end up doing some damage with Alabama’s playoff hopes still on the line.