Penalties contribute to Alabama's near-disaster against South Carolina

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Penalties have been a problem for Alabama all season long, and a collection of them on Saturday afternoon nearly resulted in the Crimson Tide’s second loss in as many games.

Coming into the game, Alabama ranked 14th in the SEC and 111th nationally with 8.0 penalties per game. The team almost matched that against South Carolina, racking up seven, and amassing 66 yards.

After the game, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer went into detail about a specific penalty that occurred on a kickoff in the second half. The Crimson Tide received the kickoff after a Gamecock touchdown, with the score being 14-7 Alabama’s way. On the kickoff, Bray Hubbard was called for a personal foul, seemingly for continuing to play after the whistle.

The result of the penalty was half the distance to the goal after a touchback, putting the ball at the 13-yard-line. The very next play, Jalen Milroe was flushed out of the pocket and committed an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone, resulting in a safety for South Carolina. The safety would never have happened without the personal foul, which pushed Alabama back into a dangerous spot.

While Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer hasn’t seen a replay of the penalty yet, he believed there may have been an issue with Hubbard not hearing the whistle.

“I haven’t seen it, so what I say may be totally not correct, but the understanding is when he comes across the field – I know what his responsibility is – but he’s coming across the field and doesn’t hear a whistle, DeBoer said. “You at some point have to have the sense of what’s happening in front of you, if your guy has slowed down or anything like that when you hit him. I know the ball wasn’t that deep in the end zone, I thought we might even field it and bring it out. It was a late decision whether we were gonna do that or let it go.”

DeBoer continued to emphasize that he didn’t believe Hubbard had malicious intent with the penalty, but he understands that it had to be called.

“It wasn’t something where he’s egregiously trying to go out and get a penalty,” DeBoer said. “It’s more a matter of reading what’s happening in front of you and instinctually knowing the play is a touchback. That’s something I’m sure I’ll see on film and understand how close it was. I know by the letter of the law, yeah, a penalty. Ball was a touchback and all that.”

This wasn’t the only monumental penalty in the game, either. Multiple times Alabama had big third down defensive plays nullified with penalties. One was a 3rd-and-21 where Alabama got a stop to get off the field, and a roughing the passer advanced the drive. Another one was a facemask called on a second down sack, wiping the sack off the board and awarding a first down.

“Penalties, we’re striving for zero. That’s what we’re trying to do. We emphasize it. Every situation is a learning one. We’re gonna talk about that,” DeBoer said. “Those plays kept feeding on each other, the small things add up, and we find ourselves in a fight till the end.”

And a fight till the end is exactly what Alabama found themselves in. The Crimson Tide ultimately escaped with a win, 27-25, but it wasn’t pretty, and certainly wasn’t for lack of a plethora of miscues that will need to be cleaned up as the schedule continues to get tougher.