Alabama survived a scare at home, defeating South Carolina 27-25 in Week 7, in a game that was a two-point conversion away from heading to overtime. Here is everything Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said in a press conference following the win.

"Another game down the wire. We're getting accustomed to those. There are things we can do to make sure it doesn't get to that point.

We always talk about finding a way to win. As many times as it looked like we weren't, we did. The biggest thing I'm proud of is the response, starting early in the week. Things happened because of the way they came ready to practice, whether it was the response Sunday after we talked about what happened a week ago, or Tuesday, back to work.

A unified group that knows there's still so much more we can get better at. We talked about things South Carolina would do that would be tougher matchups for us, areas of their team that were different than a week ago. That's the way it'll be every week. We knew they'd be stout up front, and we did a nice job with a balanced attack. When we forced the issue, got into longer situations, or pressed the ball downfield—especially in the first half—that backfired.

Defensively, we got to the quarterback with three or four sacks and three takeaways. That's always an emphasis, and I'm proud of the way the guys came through. Three or four? Three, yeah. I couldn't remember if the interception was the fourth or third.

I'm proud of the way the guys fought. On the onside kick, we talk about being 1-0 and focusing on the next play. From day one, I’ve said the ball is a funny-shaped object—it bounces, so we just need to grab it. That didn't happen, but the effort was there. On defense, we stayed aggressive, put them in a tough spot, and handled the final play.

"We knew we had to get the first down, just with how much time was on the clock. We didn't have the timeout, so there's a risk-reward on those calls. We were right on the edge of what it would take to kick a field goal. A field goal makes a difference in what they have to score.

There were a lot of components involved in what we tried to do. We discussed a lot of safe avenues on that play, and I think they were aggressive in trying to defend them. Like many of our concepts, there was a deeper route, and I love that Jalen saw it. Early in the season, we didn't always see those things, but with his understanding of the offense and familiarity, he made the throw and the catch.

That's finding ways to get it done, and I'm proud of those guys for that execution. That was a huge part of the win.

"I think the analytics were there—pretty confident they said to go. The analytics say any fourth-and-1 you should go for it. We felt confident with the tempo, and we really hadn't done much of that, so even them seeing how we'd line up and run it for the first time was something we felt good about. We work on it every week in the later part of the week, and I thought the guys did a nice job.

It was a big part, obviously, in getting some momentum. You hate punting on the first drive when it's third, fourth, and one, so great job by the guys executing something we hadn't really done this year.

"I trust our guys, and the points they got at the end of the half hurt us. I'm thinking, if we can get one play where we throw it in the end zone on fourth down and the clock ends with us having the football, I'm all for it. Worst case, you take a sack or have to punt. I don't like punting, really at any time, but to me, that was the worst-case scenario.

I'm always aggressive that way. You try to weigh the risk and reward and put trust in the guys—things we talk about. That’s something me and Coach Sheridan will sit and talk about. When we're in that moment and want to keep the pedal down to give ourselves another play, I'm looking for anything—maybe a defensive pass interference or something to give us one more shot. We've seen crazier things happen, and that's just the aggressiveness I like to have.

We'll talk about the trust, and I think the guys appreciate when you put trust in them, but we have to learn from it when things don't work out. They got three points out of it, which was probably the last thing I was thinking about when it happened.

He'll be fine. He was back out there. The guy wants to play. He's had a great season so far, and he's someone we have a lot of confidence in. We wanted to use him at the right times and moments in the second half when they came up.

Again, finding a way to pull it down and concentrate on the ball—it might look like an easy pick, but you still have to be there and make the play. I'm definitely proud of the fight he showed and his desire to be back out there, especially considering he went down earlier in the game.

"I mean, it's penalties. We strive for zero, and that's what we're trying to do. We emphasize it. Every situation is a learning one, and we're going to talk about that. We have to read the body language of what's happening.

I haven't seen it, so what I say may not be correct, but the understanding is that when he comes across the field, I know his responsibility. If he doesn't hear a whistle, you have to have a sense of what's happening in front of you—whether your guy has slowed down or not when you hit him. The ball wasn’t that deep in the end zone. I thought we might even field it and bring it out, or decide to let it go.

It wasn't something where he was egregiously trying to get a penalty. It's more about reading the situation and instinctually knowing the play is a touchback. That’s something I’ll see on film to understand how close it was. By the letter of the law, yeah, probably a penalty—touchback and all that. We can’t have it.

That one hurt us because it put us in a bad spot for the safety. Those plays kept piling up. The small things—though that was a big one—add up, and we found ourselves in a fight to the end.

"What were we? 7 for 15? 5I think they had five on one drive, right? Four or five, something like that. I never talked about it on the sideline. So, the rest of the half, two, right? Two for the rest of the game, two for 10, is that right?

I'm just doing rough math. We can’t have five on a drive, and I think it comes down to that desire to find a way to make the play. I’ll watch the film, and we’ll understand what happened on a lot of those. They were in some good situations. I remember the ball they caught over the middle was advantageous for us in terms of down and distance.

That’s where you really have to get off the field, and those are hard to convert from the offensive side—but they did. A lot of the game, I felt like we were doing a solid job. Can’t say it was great, but that drive coming out in the second half set the tone and made it tough for us the rest of the game.

You’ve got to start faster when we come out. We talked about the middle eight—going into the locker room and coming out. They got the ball, and they had those points in the first half. We just need to do a better job of starting fast in the middle part of the game and, obviously, finishing.

I think we did some things well on both ends, but we need to do a better job of taking momentum into the locker room.

"We have all those calls in, we practice them, and Friday was about making them aware that the opponent has no timeouts in that situation.

We’ll talk about it—those things hit us. I had just talked to Damani about it. Again, this is where we learn. His mindset was, “I’m going to run off the clock,” which is true. But we all understand that all we need to do is go down and take a knee. Those are things we’ve got to keep learning from.

Fortunately, nothing happened at the end—no injuries or something freakish that leads to another play. We just need to keep coaching and teaching. You talk about these things, and you think everyone’s good with taking a knee in the end zone and knowing there are no timeouts. We knew that.

Then he comes out with that, which was the last thing I expected him to say. But I love the kid, love the play, and we’ll learn from it.

"I think these two offenses we face are more built to have drives that continue to stack plays on top of each other. I know they got the explosive play on the fourth down against our coverage, but the ball down the sideline took the safety out of the picture.

I think a bit more of them, and you know, the running back and quarterback kept moving the chains—three yards, four yards—trying to get into those third-and-ones and third-and-twos, converting slants or something like that to keep the drive alive. I can’t say that they are armed.

But it’s frustrating when they can put together drives. It starts wearing on your defense, and the longer the drive goes, the better chance they have of scoring.