Central among a multitude of issues that led to Alabama football struggling with South Florida until midway through the fourth quarter of a 42-16 win Saturday night was a ghastly total of penalties: 13 for 120 yards, including seven live-ball flags on the Crimson Tide’s offensive line.
After reviewing film, however, first-year coach Kalen DeBoer wasn’t pointing any fingers at officials.
“We needed to adjust to how it was being called. That’s what you try to say. ‘Hey, It’s getting called. It’s getting called tighter,” DeBoer said, specifically referencing holding flags against the offensive line. “Now we’re really able to look at replays and understand what you didn’t see in the game when it happened live, or why it was called, because sometimes it’s on the other side of the field from where our bench is at. You can go back and see the end zone (video angle) or the wide shot and try to determine how tight it was called. Trying to stress that we’ve got to do a good job of … our hands were inside in a lot of cases, we just kept grabbing cloth longer when they were pulling away from us, just for that split second.”
DeBoer estimated that Alabama lost 180-190 yards of offense on penalties, in addition to the 120 yards marched off by officials. That includes two touchdowns called back, one on a 74-yard run by QB Jalen Milroe, and another on a 21-yard would-be score by Justice Haynes. The Crimson Tide also lost a 53-yard reception by Kobe Prentice to offsetting penalties.
“That’s a game changer. The first half alone I think it was probably 180,” DeBoer added. “So we’ve got to adjust and make sure we’re playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
Alabama LB Justin Jefferson also drew a targeting call against the Bulls that, because it was incurred in the second half, will result in a first-half suspension in the Crimson Tide’s upcoming road game at Wisconsin.
“I looked at it from about every angle I could,” said Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack. “I think we’ve just to tell the young man to keep playing. It is what it is.”
