Alabama's Kalen DeBoer explains timing management in the second half against Georgia

All's well that ends well, but that still doesn't stop some people from getting out their microscopes.

Alabama football had a one-possession lead against Georgia with just 5:36 left in the game.

Despite holding the lead with just a few minutes left, the Crimson Tide didn't slow down. There was no attempt at all to strain the clock, it was 33-28 at the time. When the ball was snapped on each play, Alabama left 15, 22, 17, 20 and 16 seconds on the game clock on each play.

On third down, when Alabama finally stumbled from its own 27-yard line, the Crimson Tide gave Georgia the ball with plenty of time remaining – 2:41, to be exact.

A caller on the “Hey Coach” radio show Wednesday asked Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer about second-half clock management.

“Why didn’t we try to shorten the time between games,” the caller asked.

“Of course you can ask that question,” DeBoer said. “The way the game went, 5½ minutes with the two-minute warning and three timeouts, you probably have to score five first downs, six first downs combined, which means you have to score a touchdown on the most part.

“For me it was about scoring points. For me it was about making sure we played the right plays. We have some systematic methods. I don't feel like we were too fast. But sometimes we wanted to line up to see what the defense would show us. When we decided to perform the piece we originally called for, we recorded it a little earlier. But we also have to take some time to make sure that when we have an opponent in attack mode, we don't want to despair, but that's kind of where we've gotten to at this point, that we don't have to go with me Caught in a bad situation with a really bad play. With 5½ minutes left…we had the ball three times…There were five possessions in the game that happened within 5½ minutes.”

DeBoer said the new two-minute warning has “changed things quite a bit.”

“A lot of time on the clock,” DeBoer said. “Yes, you can try to make it smaller. I think if you have a two-touchdown lead with 5½ minutes to play at that point, that's a very different deal than if you have a five-point lead. Even a field goal is still a one-possession game at this point.”

After Alabama punted, Georgia scored on the next play with a 67-yard touchdown pass to take a 34-33 lead with 2:31 left. But Alabama immediately answered with a 75-yard score from Ryan Williams that took the lead right back and made it 41-34 with 2:18 left.

An interception by cornerback Zabien Brown decided the game for the Crimson Tide.

Williams and Brown's efforts made time management a moot point against Georgia, but that didn't stop one caller from asking anyway.