"Got exposed last week": Nick Saban makes opinion clear on Alabama's issues before Vanderbilt clash

Alabama had a 28-0 lead in the first quarter of the game against Georgia in the Week 5 SEC encounter. However, by the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs had staged a 34-33 comeback. It took a swift response from Kalen DeBoer’s team to go on and eventually win the game.

While the talks were all about a game-winning 75-yard touchdown by Ryan Williams, the Crimson Tide were exposed in some phases of the game by the Bulldogs in their push for a comeback. Nick Saban talked about this on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday.

"First of all, Vanderbilt runs a lot of option-style football, which amazingly enough players don't get to play much against that style of football, so it's a really difficult preparation," Saban said.

“And Alabama's secondary got exposed last week in the second half of this game, giving up a lot of big plays...So they need to be concerned about those two things. [But] I think they'll do fine.”

These problems were evident in the 40-35 loss against Vanderbilt. The Commodores capitalized on the weakness in the Crimson Tide defense to snatch a historic win. This marked their first-ever win over Alabama.

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Kalen DeBoer on what Alabama learned in the second half against Georgia

Georgia’s second-half performance against Alabama was an explosive one. After ending the first half 30-7, the Bulldogs staged what would have been the largest comeback in a top-5 game in college football history had it held on to the lead with a little above two minutes left.

In his media availability ahead of the Vanderbilt game, Kalen DeBoer answered a question on what his team had learned from the second-half performance of the Bulldog in Week 5. The coach pointed out the experience gained in what could have been a harsh defeat.

“We would like to have a better second half," he said. "There's literally one play here, one play there, a small little piece that would have in the early part of the third quarter, mid-part of the third quarter, completely changed that game.

“And unfortunately, It did happen, and we have to continue to learn from that. Continue to just understand that those moments become big, and so that experience what we went through, whether it was the missed opportunities or how resilient we were at the end.”

Kalen DeBoer recorded his first loss as Alabama head coach against Vanderbilt on Saturday. After what has been a brilliant start to life in Tuscaloosa, the loss comes as a dent to his image and the growing belief that he is a perfect replacement to Nick Saban.