Kalen DeBoer addresses why Ryan Williams touchdown was taken away

In the second play of the fourth quarter against Oklahoma, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe rolled out to his right and delivered a 36-yard dart to freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams to cut into OU’s 24-3 lead. For a moment, the Crimson Tide felt a spark of hope that a comeback was possible. Then, they saw a flag lying on the ground back at the line of scrimmage.

At the moment of the pass, a referee had thrown a flag, calling illegal touching on Williams. Illegal touching can be called in two situations: if a player steps out of bounds and is the first player to touch the ball when they step back inbounds or if an ineligible receiver is downfield.

In this case, the latter explanation appears to be relevant. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer confirmed this suspicion after the game when discussing the perplexing call.

“They said it was illegal touching, so someone would have had to have been covered up, ineligible,” DeBoer said.

It didn't count but this Ryan Williams catch was INSANE.

(📹: ABC) pic.twitter.com/HDd3lrnJCo

— Max Cohan (@MaxCohan) November 24, 2024

DeBoer didn’t appear to agree with the call during the postgame press conference and he certainly didn’t agree with the call at the time of the play. The typically mild-mannered DeBoer chased the officials up and down the sideline, screaming for an explanation.

DeBoer didn’t receive one then and fans around the country still haven’t received one as of this report. Worse, an illegal touching call results in a loss of down. Since the penalty occurred on a fourth-and-2, it was a turnover on downs, effectively destroying any chances for an Alabama comeback.

So, what is the rational explanation for the call? On offense, seven players have to be on the line of scrimmage while four players are in the backfield. Of the seven on the line of scrimmage, only the two players on each ends of the line are eligible to catch a pass.

However, all four players in the backfield are eligible. On the aforementioned play, Ryan Williams was the sole receiver on line of the scrimmage. Hence, barring an unseen reason, Williams should’ve been eligible to catch the ball.

Unfortunately for Alabama, no amount of hindsight clarity can change the call and, more importantly, the result of the game. Now sitting at No. 13 in the AP Poll, Alabama will be hard-pressed to find a way into the College Football Playoff.

On Saturday, the Crimson Tide will look to give the selection committee a convincing performance as they square off against Auburn at 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ABC.