Saban: 4th-quarter defensive lapse is mental

TUSCALOOSA | Nick Saban prefers to look at the glass as half full, but in the case of the University of Alabama’s defense it’s been three-quarters full.

Or fourth-quarter empty, depending on your perspective. The problem for the Crimson Tide’s stop unit is that games are four quarters long, and defensive lapses have been glaring in the final 15 minutes.

Saban, Alabama’s head coach, is fully aware that the Crimson Tide has allowed more points in the fourth quarter (62) than in the first three quarters combined (57). He knows Arkansas came back from 21 points down to take a fourth-quarter lead, that Florida State put up two touchdowns in the final period to beat the Tide and that Alabama gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns last weekend against Houston — and needed an interception in the end zone on the game’s final play to preserve the victory.

Through six games, Alabama’s opponents are averaging 9.5 points through the third quarter, and more than 10 points in the fourth quarter. By extension, if the Tide defense was as productive in the fourth quarter as it has been over the first three, Alabama would be giving up less than 13 points per game and rank second only to LSU in scoring defense in the SEC.

The solution, Saban believes, is improving mental intensity.

“There’s a difference between playing hard and maintaining intensity,” he said. “I think that loss of mental intensity, for whatever reason, was a difference.

“There was a difference, and that difference affects your ability to execute.”

The reason for the letdowns against Houston and Arkansas may have been simply resting on the laurels of early leads.

“Maybe being ahead in the game had something to do with it, I don’t know,” Saban said.

Defensive end Wallace Gilberry likens Alabama’s defensive approach in those games to playing football video games.

“Once you get up 21-0, you turn it off and start over,” he said. “Once we get past that ‘NCAA 2008’ mentality, we’ll be better off. It’s kind of funny, but that’s how we’ve been playing.

“One thing we’ve got to realize, it’s real life. The other team is playing to come back and win.”

Alabama’s defensive depth is thin, forcing fewer players to log more snaps. Against Houston, the Tide defense was on the field for 83 plays, not including those wiped out by penalties.

“I think we got a little tired in the second half on defense,” Saban said. “That’s another thing that can affect your ability to focus, and [cause players to make] mental errors. You think about the being tired instead of thinking about what you have to do.”

Linebacker Darren Mustin felt that fatigue.

“The defense played 80-something snaps,” he said. “I don’t care who you are, you’re going to get tired.”

The Tide’s offense has played a part in the defensive letdowns. By not getting more first downs in the final period, the offense has put the defense back on the field again and again.

“We’re on different sides of the ball, but we’re still a team,” tailback Glen Coffee said. “We need to keep the defense off the field, and they’re out there to get us the ball back so we can score. It goes hand in hand.”

Saban wants his team to play without considering the score, to play as hard and with as much intensity when ahead as it does when behind. And he wants Alabama players to compete from the first snap to the last, which means finishing games in the fourth quarter.

Said safety Rashad Johnson, “It’s something we need to take into consideration, taking more pride in the fourth quarter and shutting people down.”

By allowing opponents to have the edge in the fourth quarter over the first half of the season, Alabama’s defense has built a reputation it will have to live with the rest of the way.

“You’ve got a good, commanding lead and you look up and they’re down by one touchdown,” Mustin said. “That’s one of those things about setting your identity.

“If we had gone out and crushed and dominated those teams like we could have, [opponents] would look at the film and say, ‘Oh no, we don’t want to play them.’

“Instead, they’re looking at [the Houston and Arkansas games]. We can go out there and get an 80-point lead and teams are going to think they can come back.”

Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.