The Alabama Crimson Tide have suffered their second loss before the month of November for the first time since Nick Saban’s first season in 2007 with a 24-17 defeat against the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville.

In what was an ugly offensive performance in a game that Alabama had every opportunity to win, the Tide failed to pull away when it had the chance and as a result, comes away with their second loss.

Kalen DeBoer put it perfectly when he spoke during his weekly media availability on Monday morning and summed up what he feels like the issue is with the team right now.

“There are times where we have to separate ourselves and have that killer instinct. Right now, we don’t do that,” DeBoer said.

RELATED: Alabama loses to Tennessee in dreadful performance from Milroe and offense

After failing to put away both Vanderbilt and Tennessee led to losses and the same thing nearly against South Carolina, the lack of a ‘killer instinct’ has been extremely prevalent. It’s not to say they can’t figure it out, they certainly can, but a certain something has clearly been missing in the areas of discipline and shutting games down.

Alabama should have been able to win on Saturday against a team that played poorly offensively and turned the ball over multiple times. For whatever reason, they did not. It will be up to DeBoer to figure out where to find that killer instinct before the 2024 season really starts to go off the rails.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.