Alabama football defensive coordinator Kane Wommack spoke about the Vanderbilt game for about four minutes.

He covered plenty of ground over that time during his opening statement for his Monday morning press conference, but ultimately, there were two areas he wants his defense to fix after the Commodores upset then-No. 1 Alabama 40-35 on Saturday in Nashville.

Third-down defense and run defense.

“Really those are the two things we feel like we have to be focused on moving forward,” Wommack said. “Becoming more consistent when we do see some of those non-traditional run pictures that the triple option presents to you, and getting back to playing third down defense the way that we have played.”

Wommack thought Alabama adjusted to some of the things Vanderbilt did in the run game, but “but we didn’t do it consistently.” The Crimson Tide allowed 166 yards on 54 carries (3.1 yards per rush) for two touchdowns as Vanderbilt used the running game multiple times to extend drives and tire the Alabama defense.

As for third downs, the Crimson Tide allowed the Commodores to convert 12 of 18 attempts; That’s one more than Alabama had given up on third down (11 conversions) in the prior four games combined.

“You look at third-down defense this past week and fourth-down defense in the second half against Georgia, not to the standard,” Wommack said. “For six quarters there, third and fourth down, we have not operated to the level we’re capable of, otherwise we’re looking at different stories in both those games.”

Alabama had been ranked No. 2 in the country in third-down defense going into the matchup with Vanderbilt.

Wommack took plenty of ownership in Alabama’s defensive struggles against the Commodores.

“When we don’t get any of our keys to victory done and we don’t play with ‘Bama fundamentals, that ultimately falls on me as the defensive coordinator,” Wommack said. “It’s my responsibility to make sure we get our players to play at the highest level possible, and to become the best versions of themselves on gameday, and we did not get that done on Saturday. We are all having urgency to get that cleaned up and to get that better moving forward.”

Next up, No. 7 Alabama will face South Carolina on Saturday (11 a.m. CT, ABC) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.