Alabama football quarterback Jalen Milroe played the worst game of his 2024 season on Saturday. The redshirt junior threw three interceptions including a pick six that all but doomed any chance of a Crimson Tide comeback in the 24-3 loss at Oklahoma.
Afterward, UA head coach Kalen DeBoer was asked about Milroe's turnovers. He didn't put all the blame on his quarterback.
"Early in the game, there's different things," DeBoer said. "I mean, drops, just flat-out drops, balls we lost in the lights, just different, uncharacteristic things, weird things that happened. And I thought he was actually putting the ball where he needed to. We just needed to help him out a bit. The screen pass, they jump it. You have to assume that those blocks are going to happen and you're reading a different defender."
Part of the issue for Milroe was Oklahoma absolutely stifling him in the run game. He finished with just seven yards on the ground, and was never able to threaten the Sooners in that area.
The interception return for a touchdown by Kip Lewis in the third quarter was OU's final score of the night. DeBoer discussed that play, and praised Milroe's fight after it happened.
"I don't know if he just didn't see him or predetermine things, but there's still a lot of game left, and I felt like a lot of things he was doing, he was fighting and battling and doing a lot of things well for our football team," DeBoer said. "We just all needed to be a little better.
"So, I thought he kept battling. I looked at his eyes, and I think he's come a long ways all season long and just the way he wants to go out there and keep leading the team and guys kept fighting for him. That was just pretty much what I shared with them. Just, have no regrets, go out there and keep swinging."
For DeBoer, the offensive struggles came back to the simplest execution.
"There were some things that are pretty easy that just didn't happen for us," DeBoer said. "Short little concepts that would have moved the chains, easy throws and catches, some drops early that take you off the field, some third down conversions that we missed on, an explosive play where the ball we can't find it. And those were some of the momentum things that really kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit."