Had everything gone according to plan for Alabama this season, its trip in November to Baton Rouge would have been the only game defensive coordinator Pete Golding coached back in his home state of Louisiana.

But losses to Tennessee and LSU ultimately shifted the Tide out of the College Football Playoff and into the Sugar Bowl, where it will meet Kansas State on Saturday in New Orleans.

“I know we’re not where we want to be right now,” Golding said at one point during his Thursday news conference, his first public comments since August.

There are a variety of reasons why Alabama faltered twice this season, from penalties to turnovers to offensive lapses and a missed field goal. But defensive breakdowns are Golding’s area of responsibility, and he answered to the topic Thursday.

He started with Tennessee, with scored three touchdowns in the first quarter, then scored on 60- and 78-yard passes in the second half. When Alabama took a seven-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Vols stormed 75 yards for another touchdown. 45 yards on three Tennessee plays in the final 15 seconds allowed for the game-winning field goal.

“That’s one thing about Tennessee: they’re an explosive offense,” Golding said. “They’re going to find ways to create one-on-one matchups. But the biggest thing even in that game — we kind of talked about going into it — is contesting every play.

“When you’re playing against good teams, you can’t have uncontested plays, and a couple of those were uncontested plays. A bust on a motion adjustment. They had an audible and they run the same play every time — we don’t get the check. Getting all 11 guys on the same page was a big piece.”

A less-remarkable LSU offense went 75 yards on seven plays in the fourth quarter against Golding’s defense to take a lead, then won in overtime on a 25-yard Jayden Daniels run and Mason Taylor catch for a two-point conversion.

“We had the opportunity in both of those games in the fourth quarter to win the game on defense and we didn’t,” Golding said. “There were some critical third downs against LSU, on the last drive. We had the opportunity to get off the field and we didn’t. And the same thing we the Tennessee game.

“In big games, guys got to step up and make plays when we need to. And I felt like, in those games, in critical moments, the other team stepped up and made more plays than we did.”

Despite its brief meltdowns, Alabama’s defense enters the Sugar Bowl ranked 14th in FBS in allowing only 311 yards per game, and tied for ninth in giving up only 18 points per game. Both are the second-best marks in the SEC behind Georgia.

“Obviously we’ve all learned from that. We watched that on tape. We had to live through that,” Golding said of the two losses. “There are things we’ve got to clean up and got to improve on. There’s part of competitive greatness — being at your best when your best is needed, whether that’s a call or that’s a play, and a player doing their job. So we’ve all got to improve on that.”

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.