On multiple occasions, Alabama football defensive backs let South Florida receivers get behind them this past Saturday.

The Bulls looked to launch deep passes to the receivers in each of these first-quarter snaps, but USF failed to connect on all of them. It wasn’t for a lack of receivers being open, though. Each time, the Bulls created separation.

USF quarterback Byrum Brown just couldn’t find a way to hit his open receivers.

Had the Bulls connected on one or two of them, they could have easily taken a lead over the Crimson Tide late in the first quarter. Of course, it’s tricky to play the “what if” game. So we won’t go any farther than that. But the defensive backs allowing receivers to get behind them wasn’t a good thing by any means. The cost was just low.

None of the issues in coverage of these deep passing plays resulted in a big play, and after a one-possession game for most of the night, Alabama finished strong in the fourth quarter. The Crimson Tide beat South Florida 42-16.

Still, it’s worth taking a closer look at what allowed USF receivers to get behind Alabama ‘s secondary.

On Monday, Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kane Wommack explained what happened on two of the plays where receivers ran past defensive backs.

The first play

Freshman Red Morgan was in coverage for the first deep pass of the game in which Brown overthrew receiver Michael Brown-Stephens.

Wommack said it was a technique error.

“We were denying the outside release,” Wommack said. “We forced him to release inside, which is probably the only reason they didn’t connect on that ball. We went back and looked at this a long time ago, if you look at inside release fade balls, the ones that we forced the receiver to release inside versus if he gets the outside release on you, the completion percentage is far less on an inside release. So that was probably the only thing that saved us. However, we put our eyes back in the backfield when we did get beat back inside instead of staying on top shoulder.”

The second play

Freshman Zabien Brown was in coverage for another deep throw attempt at Brown-Stephens a few minutes later.

“They were going fast three plays in a row,” Wommack said. “You’ve seen it at, Oklahoma State was probably the team that was most famous for it, but back before they would, when a guy would substitute, now we give the defense a chance to sub where back in the day we didn’t use to do that, so guys would run the next wide receiver out, the next wide receiver out. And that’s what they tried to do.”

Wommack said Alabama had a substitution issue where the Crimson Tide didn’t feel like it had time to get somebody else out there; Brown was fresh off a play where he had run down the field with a receiver for a while for a previous incomplete pass. Then Brown had to run back to cover another receiver, and fast.

“He was kind of in limbo,” Wommack said. “He wasn’t in press coverage, he wasn’t in off coverage and he just got run by because his eyes were in a bad spot.”

In conclusion

After breaking down the plays, Wommack wrapped up his answer.

“So those are things that young players have to learn,” Wommack said. “They have to get corrected moving forward and so that’s really going to be the key, is making sure that those young guys learn from those mistakes.”

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.

Residents of a small Alabama city were up in arms at the migrant influx during a recent city council hearing that lawmakers suddenly cut short amid the outcry.

Meanwhile, state leaders demanded answers from the feds as the migrants appear to be in the country legally under Temporary Protective Status provisions extended to Haitian nationals by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

In Sylacauga, just south of NASCAR’s Talladega Superspeedway, City Council President Tiffany Nix abruptly curtailed public comment as residents demanded accountability for the at least 50 migrants that appeared in the city.

“We’re done,” Nix responded to resident David Phillips, who had criticized council’s attitude as “entirely unacceptable” during the meeting last week.

“[Haiti is] a failed state – their president (Jovenel Moise) was assassinated in 2021 – there is no way the State Department can vet these individuals,” Phillips said before Nix cut in as another resident called out, “Please let him talk.”

MIGRANT CRISIS ROILS BOSTON AREA AS SCHOOL STANDS FIRM ON RESIDENCY POLICY

Nix then made a motion to adjourn the meeting and ordered the gallery cleared.

“This is our city,” a woman in the gallery said. “Good to know, they don’t want to hear the truth,” another said.

Another resident wondered aloud how local schools will be able to handle the new migrants, noting that financial resources would be needed for children that only speak French-Creole and not English.

Amid the murmuring, Nix could be heard asking, “What would you like us to do?”

Earlier in the meeting, Nix said there is no reason to launch a municipal investigation and that people should not treat others “differently because of how they look.”

State Rep. Benjamin Robbins, who represents the city, wrote a letter Thursday to Mayorkas, demanding a federal response.

“As the secretary of Homeland Security, you are charged with overseeing immigration enforcement and refugee resettlement,” he wrote.

“Recently, my district has seen an influx of Haitian immigrants. You and your agency have failed in your responsibility to notify our community of the relocation of refugees, provide any information to local leaders or answer questions.”

Robbins said the situation has caused “panic and confusion” and left local leaders “helpless.” Robbins said he would demand Congress investigate if DHS does nothing.

Sylacauga Mayor Jim Heigl separately told Alabama’s 1819 News that information the migrants were in his city legally “came out from [Gov. Kay Ivey’s] office and also came from Mike Rogers’ office, [Sen.] Katie Britt’s office and [Sen. Tommy] Tuberville’s office.

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Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt/File)

Rogers, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, called the situation in his district “yet another example of the Biden-Harris administration’s moronic immigration policy failures.”

“Those two never cease to amaze me with their total incompetence and outright antagonism toward hardworking Americans. The way to fix this is to re-elect President Trump,” Rogers said.

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter added his biggest concern is the lack of information from the feds on the migrants already inside the state.

“We have asked repeatedly,” said Ledbetter, R-Rainsville. “Once they are here, communities like Sylacauga and Albertville are left to deal with the disaster. Our schools don’t have the ESL resources to support the immigrant children, housing these people is an issue, crime is an issue, and the federal government has offered zero support whatsoever.”

Tuberville told Fox News Digital the feds are abusing their parole authority, which he said is supposed to be used sparingly and only for humanitarian purposes.

Instead, he said the administration is using it as a tool of “mass amnesty to millions of people.”

“We have no idea who most of these people are,” Tuberville said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the city and was directed to Nix’s email but did not receive a response.

Meanwhile, in Montgomery, state Senate President Pro-Tempore Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said Monday the Biden administration has allowed millions of illegal immigrants to “pour in” and cause a crisis.

“The immigration catastrophe they have … openly incentivized is hitting home right now for Americans across the country, including right here in Alabama,” he said.

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Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023, in Lukeville, Ariz. (John Moore/Getty Images)

“Alabama officials are prepared to use the tools at our disposal to clean up the mess and confusion their reckless policies have created,” Reed went on, adding that the crisis in Sylacauga emphasizes the importance of the presidential election.

A spokesperson for Ivey responded to a question about the mayor’s comments by saying her office has not received any facts or communications from the feds or to local officials on the matter.

“Separately though, Alabamians and Americans all over the country are rightfully concerned over the current Biden-Harris pro-illegal immigration policies. No doubt this is a contributing factor to the concerns of people in Sylacauga and other areas,” Gina Maiola said.

“People are on high alert. Gov. Ivey will continue taking action to enforce the law, doing everything in Alabama’s authority to secure the U.S. southern border and protecting our citizens from the harmful effects of illegal immigration.”

DHS did not respond to a request for comment for this story. 

Paul Finebaum is known for giving his opinion on pretty much any topic in college football. If a team or a coach doesn’t perform at a certain level, he will usually give a strong take.

One of the surprising games this weekend was Alabama against South Florida. While the final score ended up being 42-16, this was a 14-13 game entering the 4th quarter.

These two teams matched up last year, and it was a 3-3 game in the fourth quarter until the Crimson Tide pulled away. Last year, the college football world buried Alabama after that struggle, and the team ended up making the College Football Playoff.

Because of that performance, Finebaum said there isn’t a reason to take anything from this game being closer than the final score shows.

“I think Alabama ought to learn what we all learned a year ago,” Finebaum said on the McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning show.  “Any take, any hot take, any opinion on a game vs. South Florida is completely worthless. Because we got nothing out of that last year, and while I would hear from friends Saturday night, people in panic. It turned out that the score says Alabama won it looked like a comfortable win. We all know it wasn’t, and I frankly don’t think it makes a bit of difference.”

The Crimson Tide are still just 2 games into the Kalen DeBoer era, and Finebaum thinks how Alabama erupted in the final 15 minutes is a good sign.

“I know that sounds like I’m just wiping it away, but sometimes that happens,” Finebaum said.  “The fact that Alabama could win the 4th quarter in such a dominating fashion to me is good.”

The Crimson Tide will be back in action next week as they travel to take on Wisconsin. That matchup is set for FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff time slot in Week 3.