Alabama staff discusses two major penalties from Tennessee game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Once again, penalties plagued Alabama in a huge way in a loss to Tennessee. The Crimson Tide was flagged 15 times against the Vols on Saturday, its highest mark since, ironically, the last time Alabama played in Neyland Stadium, when it was called for penalties 17 times.

Of all of those penalties, two stuck out like sore thumbs.

The first was an illegal substitution penalty against the defense that was more than unusual. Alabama was scrambling to the correct personnel on the field, and at the last second before the snap, King Mack entered the playing field from the sideline and fell down injured.

Mack seemed to be pushed into the field by defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist, while the broadcast of the game on ABC heavily implied the injury was faked. Mack entered the game again shortly after being taken off and looked at.

DeBoer ripped into officials after play was stopped, seemingly about Alabama not being able to match Tennessee’s substitutions. Still, Alabama was called for an illegal substitution due to Mack entering the field late.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack addressed the situation during Monday’s press conference.

“We tell guys, if you’re injured, if you’re hurt, if you’re pulling up with a cramp, you have to go down in that situation,” Wommack said. “We’re not able to substitute someone when a team is going fast, so if you’re injured, the protocol there is for the guy to go down. Our training room does a tremendous job. They got a guy back after however long it was.”

The other major penalty came late in the game. Alabama had the ball deep in its own territory trailing by four points, and threw an incomplete pass on 3rd-and-7. That brought up fourth down, while DeBoer was planning on going for.

Between plays, wide receiver Kendrick Law threw a punch on a Tennessee player that had gotten into his face after the play. That drew personal foul call, good for 15 yards, making an already-difficult 4th-and-7 into an entirely unmanageable 4th-and-22.

DeBoer addressed Law’s penalty in Monday’s press conference.

“The message continues to be, with the team, it’s not just one, we’ve got to learn from those moments. Those moments are big. Our choices, our decisions, our words, our actions, all of those things, they have to be focused on what’s best for our team. Obviously in that moment, we’re fighting to try to find a way to win. It’s a big moment,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got to make sure we, of course address them, but we can’t continue to have mistakes, those in particular that we can control. Some things you can’t control, things that happen to you, the way the ball bounces, and all of those things.

“I think everything in general, just our thoughts, we have to make sure other people’s thoughts don’t become ours. We’ve got to make sure if someone’s talking to us, we’ve got to learn to walk the other way, and be more emotionally disciplined in every facet. Not just the high aggression type things, but when the momentum swings, and things like that happen in a game, be able to trust your preparation, trust what you’re doing. But we’ve got to be better there, obviously that’s an important part of what great teams do, is be great in those times.”