Alabama DC tells strategy behind Tide defense being dominant on third down

Alabama football’s defense has been dominant on third down this season.

The Crimson Tide has only given up one first down on third down over two games, despite being tasked with defending on third down 23 times.

Alabama’s defensive coordinator Kane Wommack detailed the strategy behind the Tide’s defensive success on third down on Monday during his press conference.

“I think when you can create and generate pass rush in different, different ways, you can apply pressure to the quarterback,” Wommack said. “Sometimes that’s with a four-man rush, sometimes that’s with simulated four-man rush pressure, sometimes that’s gonna be with man pressures or zone pressures, and I think we’re mixing those things in a pretty decent amount. But affecting the quarterback in the pocket, and then having tight, secure coverage and consistent coverage, I think we’re seeing some confidence in our secondary, and from a man coverage standpoint, I thought we were pretty latchy on Saturday in terms of when we were in man, we stayed tight and sticky. From a pass rush standpoint, I do think that we took a step forward in terms of our four-man rush. I thought some of the pressures that we were able to and some of the blitzes we brought as well were effective. And ultimately when you can make a quarterback uncomfortable, it just changes the entire dynamic of the game. We’re taking steps in the right direction there.”

Alabama is gearing up to take on Florida State Saturday at home. Wommack expects the Seminoles to throw a wrench in how effective the Tide has been on third down.

“That’s something that anytime you change personnel on third down, you’re gonna see teams that try that,” Wommack said. “We saw that from a couple of teams last year, right? They wanna go fast on third down to try to keep us from subbing personnel on and off the field. That’s a piece of that cat-and-mouse game that you deal with. We certainly have kind of plans for if they do. I think Mike (Norvell) has always had tempo as a piece of his offense. They’re doing those things now as well. Whichever direction they go in that, we have to be prepared for it.”

Alabama and Florida State will get after it Saturday on Saban Field. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT.