Kalen DeBoer, Jalen Milroe react to penalty that erased Ryan Williams' touchdown
NORMAN, Okla. — Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams made an unbelievable acrobatic touchdown grab early in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s game against Oklahoma that would have been the Crimson Tide’s only touchdown of the night.
The touchdown would have cut the Oklahoma lead from 24-3 to 24-10, giving Alabama life as it tried to overcome a seemingly insurmountable 3-touchdown deficit in the second half of the game.
But instead of the highlight play adding points on the board, it was called back for an illegal touching penalty against Williams.
After the game, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer gave the explanation the officials gave to him for why the penalty was called.
“They said it was illegal touching, so someone would have had to been covered up, ineligible,” DeBoer said.
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ABC rules analyst Bill LeMonnier gave the opinion that the call was incorrect during the game’s broadcast.
Even worse for Alabama, the penalty came on fourth down, and since part of an illegal touching penalty is a loss of down, it meant a turnover on downs to give the ball back to Oklahoma. The turnover on downs with that little time left in the game erased any little remaining hope Alabama had at coming back.
“I did not get a confirmation on that, but we should not put ourselves in positions to be that close to allow the official to make a call,” quarterback Jalen Milroe said. “We’ve got to take full ownership of starting out faster and maximize the opportunities we have in a game.”
“It’s all about going 1-0. It is what it is. It’s all about controlling what we can control. We can’t control the call, we can control how we approach each and every play, just going 1-0, with the next opportunity we had in the game.”
Alabama would go the remainder of the game without scoring, losing by a 24-3 final score.
