Alabama LB jokes that new A-Day scoring system was 'not fair' for defense

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Deontae Lawson tried his best to toe the company line following Alabama’s A-Day game on Saturday.

The starting linebacker will have to settle for beans and hotdogs instead of steak Sunday night, as the defense suffered a 34-28 defeat during the scrimmage. Of course, this year’s A-Day format didn’t do him and the Crimson Tide’s defenders many favors.

In previous years under Nick Saban, Alabama paired its first-team defense with its second-team offense against its first-team offense and second-team defense. However, under first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer, the Tide kept its entire defense on the Crimson team and its entire offense on the White team.

Because the Crimson team never had the ball, the format came with a scoring system to give the defense a chance to get on the board.

According to DeBoer’s new A-Day rules, the defense could earn 7 points for a takeaway, 3 points for a three-and-out, 2 points for a missed field goal and 2 points for a forced punt. The defense was also awarded for fourth-down stops, netting 6 points if one occurred on the offense’s side of the ball, 5 points for one from midfield to the defense’s 26-yard line and 4 points from the 25-yard line in.

In theory, it seemed fair enough.

And for a second Lawson talked himself into stating it was. But with the thought of a bean dinner in the back of his head, he eventually voiced his real opinion.

“I mean, I think it’s fair,” Lawson started. “Because, like, as a defense you want to create turnovers and as an offense you don’t want to turn the ball over so…”

Then he paused.

“Nah, it’s not fair,” he said with a smile.

Alabama’s offense scored on its first five possessions Saturday, netting four touchdowns and a field goal to take a 31-0 lead in what appeared to be an impending blowout.

To the defense’s credit, it rattled off five straight three-and-outs to get back into the game before ultimately ending the afternoon on a 28-3 run. While there wasn’t a halftime, DeBoer referred to the scrimmage as a “tail of two halves” during his postgame press conference.

“Really, just not worrying about the score,” DeBoer said, praising his defense’s response to adversity. “I heard that from that side, just don't worry about it and continue to get better and be in the moment. They got the guys on the ground when they had their chance to tackle. Play the next play. We talk in terms of a 1-0 mindset, so win the next rep. They did that more than the offense did in the second part of the scrimmage.”

Still, the offense will be the one feasting on steak while the defense scoops out beans from a pot.

As for what could have gone differently? It might have been more fair if the defense was rewarded for a handful of tackles for a loss.

Lawson said there were also a couple of changes that ended up costing the defense. In previous scrimmages this spring, the unit was awarded 4 points for a missed field goal instead of 2. That would have bumped the Crimson team’s total to 30 points due to Connor Talty’s missed 45-yarder late in the scrimmage.

Brayson Hubbard nearly had an interception on Ty Simpson early in the scrimmage, but the safety couldn’t keep a foot in bounds after snagging the ball near the sideline. The costliest play of the game came when safety Dre Kirkpatrick picked off Austin Mack in the end zone on fourth down in the red zone only to see the play waived off due to an offsides penalty.

The offense went on to score a touchdown, which ultimately served as an 18-point swing as the defense would have been awarded 11 points on the turnover (7 for the takeaway itself and 4 for the fourth-down stop).

That’ll be food for thought come supper time Sunday night.

“That’s just situation football,” Lawson said. “You don’t that. We [also] got them facemask penalties that kind of hurt us a lot. It just gives them easy access to score the ball.”

For the most part, though, Alabama’s defense performed solidly following its slow start Saturday. That should bode well for Lawson and the Tide this fall when games feature a more reliable scoring system.