Kalen DeBoer does his best to defend the play that could have cost Alabama the win vs. South Carolina

The A labama Crimson Tide narrowly won a game against South Carolina that they were favored to win by multiple scores.

In doing so, it almost feels like the Tide have more questions than answers despite seemingly saving their season.

And that's why the final play of the game encapsulates everything that is problematic with the current version of the Tide:

Why not kneel on the final play of the game

"We’ll talk about it—those things hit us. I had just talked to Damani about it, said HC Kalen DeBoer when asked about the decision from Damani Jackson to return the game-sealing interception as opposed to taking a knee. "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 expect."

The problem here is the principle, not the result. A game-sealing interception is great, but if Jackson were to fumble and South Carolina picks the ball up, this is a very different postgame interview.

The crux of the issue with this play and the past two weeks in general is coaching. There have been plenty of questions surrounding Kalen DeBoer and the rest of the staff the last two weeks, whether it's the out-of-character moves from captains , penalties concerns , or simple lapses in judgment like the final play of the game.

Related: Kalen DeBoer still unable to make sense of continuous problem that is new to Alabama football