There are plenty of fingers to point in the aftermath of Alabama's 23-21 loss to Oklahoma in Tuscaloosa on Saturday afternoon. Not a single one of them should be at Kane Wommack for the Alabama defense.
Wommack's defense kept the Crimson Tide in the game and gave them plenty of opportunities to win despite the offense and special teams doing everything they could to throw the game away. Unfortunately, the defensive effort wasn't enough to overcome the miscues by the other two units.
It was a wasted effort, but the Alabama defense is getting better every single week. Against Oklahoma, the Tide only allowed 212 total yards on just 4.1 yards per play. That's almost a full yard under Alabama's average on the season, and would be a top-six number in the country this season if it were extrapolated over a full season.
Oklahoma didn't have a single drive that went for more than 41 yards. 20 of the 23 points the Sooners scored came due to errors on offense or special teams.
Oklahoma's opening field goal directly came after a 42-yard punt return.
Then Ty Simpson threw a pick-six. After the defense forced a stop with Alabama trailing 10-7, Ryan Williams fumbled on a punt return, which set up a short field for an Oklahoma touchdown on a run by John Mateer.
Oklahoma got its longest drive of the game out of the locker room, going 41 yards to get a field goal. The final Oklahoma points came on another field goal that was set up after a Simpson fumble gave the Sooners the ball inside the Tide's 30-yard line.
It was an excellent performance overall by the Alabama defense. Wommack has answered the bell since the disappointing effort against Florida State in the opener. It was an effort that should have been rewarded more than it was.
If the offense can get going, Alabama still has a chance to go far
Early in the season, it looked like Simpson and the offense would have to be perfect for Alabama to win games. Now, it just needs to not sabotage itself.
Because the defense continues to play at an elite level. It dominated the game last week against LSU despite little help from the offense. It afforded the offense numerous opportunities to win the game against Oklahoma, and they couldn't get it done.
Alabama's defense kept Oklahoma from driving the field all afternoon long. Oklahoma punted six times and was held to field goal attempts three times despite getting short fields on two of the drives.
The only thing the defense didn't do was force any takeaways to compensate for the offense turning it over twice and special teams once.
But if Alabama can clean up the turnovers, there's plenty to be encouraged about moving forward. As Kalen DeBoer said, the execution - outside of the devastating plays - was pretty good. Alabama gained over 400 yards of offense against an elite Oklahoma defense.
Daniel Hill sparked the running game with 60 yards on 15 attempts. Simpson threw for 326 yards.
With the defense playing at a high level, if the offense can round back into the form we saw earlier in the season, Alabama still has a chance to be dangerous.