You’ve seen the video clip. At this point, everyone has. Pete Golding had to live it.
During Alabama’s 52-46 victory over Florida in the SEC Championship Game, Golding was captured on the sideline receiving one of Nick Saban’s infamous butt-chewings. Hands on his knees, the Alabama defensive coordinator looked on as Saban continued to lambast him. At one point, the head coach even bent down to get on Golding’s level, making sure his words came across face-to-face.
“That ain't nothing new,” Golding said with a grin during his Monday morning teleconference with reporters. “Whether it's my dad growing up, my mom, that's expected. When something doesn't go as it should, right, then obviously there's consequences for it. I think it's just kind of a motivational speech at that time. Let's get them going, let's roll.”
Golding is used to taking criticism. He was put under fire by fans last year when a young Alabama unit fell below its typical standard, suffering two defeats in which their opponents scored more than 45 points. Before last season’s Citrus Bowl, Golding addressed the defense’s problems, mentioning inexperience while admitting that he put too much on his young defenders.
Alabama’s deficiencies spilled over into this season as the Tide stumbled early in the year, allowing an average of 28.75 points over its first four games. The pinnacle of those struggles came against Ole Miss when Alabama missed a combined 21 tackles during a 63-48 victory over the Rebels.
At that point, Golding had a bit of a motivational speech of his own with his players.
“After the Ole Miss game I think it was a come to Jesus because we put a lot of things on tape and a lot of things that weren't good,” Golding said. “But I think it was good from our kids' standpoint that they could see it. … And it's like, look, man, you'll either come out every day and rely on your technique and get better and improve because we're putting you in this situation and it's going to carry over on Saturday. Or you're going to think it's not important, you're going to BS it, your pad level is not right, your eyes aren't right, you don't run through contact. And now this is the result.”
Alabama players responded to the message, holding their next six opponents to 17 points or fewer. During that span, the Tide limited its opponents to 8.83 points per game, while recording its first shutout since 2018 with a 41-0 victory over Mississippi State.
“I thought we attacked the line of scrimmage up front, did a good job controlling blocks,” Golding said of his team’s improvement during that stretch. “I thought we were better in our gap integrity of fitting runs which has been an issue in the past. ...I thought in that stretch, I thought we tackled really well in space. I thought we dominated up front. I thought we controlled the pocket. We didn't let the quarterback get out. And I thought we made contested plays on third down.”
While Golding said he wishes it wouldn’t have taken a poor showing against Ole Miss to wake up his players, it can be argued that the shootout served as a net positive for the Tide.
“It humbled us a lot,” cornerback Patrick Surtain II said. “We learned that we must be on the same page. We learned that that game, we should learn from that game and learn from our mistakes, learn from the things that we didn't do good on.
“And throughout the course of the season we've gotten better and we've improved on those certain things, on those fundamental techniques, even communicating defensive play calls and just flying around to the ball. As a unit we put our heads high and kept on working.”
Added defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis: “It really gave us a spark. We didn't play as well as we wanted to play. And we just took that game for motivation to get us where we're at now.”
Alabama may need to recharge that spark as it heads into the College Football Playoff. The Tide’s streak of solid defense came to a halt in the SEC Championship Game as Florida rallied for 29 second-half points, making for a few anxious moments for Golding and Alabama. Heisman candidate Kyle Trask threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns while the Gators converted on 8 of 11 third-down opportunities.
“I thought the difference to me in Florida, in that five-week stretch we had, is when we had the opportunity to make a play we did it,” Golding said. “And what I mean by that, when the ball was on the ground in those other games we scoop and scored it or we fell on it.
“We had three opportunities in the Florida game. It's right there. We don't get it. It's third-and-17, and we're in an eight-drop zone — they get it. So I think good teams, when you keep allowing them to be able to move the chains, when you have an opportunity to get off the field, you're going to kill yourself.”
Even after giving up 46 points and 462 total yards of offense against Florida, Golding’s defense is one of the better units in the SEC. Alabama leads the conference and ranks No. 17 nationally in scoring defense allowing 19.5 points per game. The Tide is third in the conference and 31st nationally in total defense, giving up 351.2 yards per game. Alabama also boasts the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year as cornerback Patrick Surtain II became the first Tide player to claim the honor since Jonathan Allen in 2016.
With tougher matchups ahead in the playoff, Golding knows he’ll need to give his unit another reboot if it is going to return to its expected level of standard. That starts Friday as No. 1 Alabama takes on No. 4 Notre Dame for the Rose Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington Texas. The Fighting Irish rank inside the top 25 in scoring offense (35.2 points per game) and total offense (455.2).
“Schematically they do a lot of different things that create a lot of problems,” Golding said. “I think they've got some good players that they look for some matchup issues, getting them off safeties and linebackers. Obviously we've got our work cut out for us. They're a really good football team. We're excited to play them.”
