Alabama hopes to 'start faster' after needing to rally vs. FSU - ESPN

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama's slow starts continued against Florida State on Saturday. But so did its strong finishes in the second half.

The Crimson Tide, as they had the previous week at Kentucky, found themselves in a first-half hole against the unranked Seminoles. The defense was leaky. The offense wasn't quite clicking, going three-and-out on its first two possessions.

Then it clicked. First-year starting quarterback Keelon Russell found a rhythm, and the running game came alive as No. 10-ranked Alabama scored on nine straight possessions to win 50-36. But after thanking the fans for sticking around through two lightning delays, Tide coach Kalen DeBoer's tone changed.

«We obviously got to start faster,» he said. «Two games in a row now where we find ourselves behind. Probably different scenarios on how that happened, but nonetheless, we got to do a better job of coming out of the gates.»

DeBoer harped on the little mistakes — missed assignments and penalties. Alabama's defense struggled to get off the field, allowing conversions on eight of 15 third downs and two of three fourth downs. It also gave up nine plays of 20-plus yards.

«You've got to be sharp,» DeBoer said. «You've got to be locked in. Can't have the foolish penalty or just the lack of execution. You know, get your pads on a guy and finish the block. You know, go out there and have the physicality that we showed the last 2½ quarters.

»So, there's a lot of things that our guys will take and build from, and there's a lot of things that we'll look at and be upset about. And I'm confident in this group that they'll get back to work and never take it for granted. These guys are resilient in a lot of ways, but they're also very competitive, and I saw that