Unpacking Alabama football penalty problem: The good and bad news
Nick Saban has coached no shortage of football games over his career. As a head coach at the college level, he's been part of 361 games, to be exact.
So a quote he had in his postgame press conference after Alabama football's 26-20 win over Texas A&M was nothing short of remarkable.
"This may be the record game for me in terms of messing up and still winning," Saban said. "It might be a record if you take the mess ups and the penalties and you add them all together."
The mistakes aside, the penalties were a significant problem. Alabama had 14 of them for 99 yards. It's the worst yet this season, but it's not a complete outlier. Penalties have once again been an issue this season. After the Texas A&M game, the Crimson Tide ranks No. 105 in fewest penalties with 43, making Alabama one of the worst in the country. The Crimson Tide (5-1, 3-0 SEC) has averaged 7.17 penalties per game. Only Missouri (45) and Arkansas (46) have been penalized more in the SEC.
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The penalties might not have cost No. 10 Alabama against the Aggies, but the flags made life much more difficult for the Crimson Tide. With enough issues with consistency on offense, penalties create tougher situations for an Alabama team that has less margin for error than ever. It's especially problematic when those penalties wipe out scores like they have too often this season on special teams and offense.
It's no secret the Crimson Tide had a penalty problem Saturday at Kyle Field, part of an issue overall with penalties this season. But which penalties are the greatest headache for Alabama? And which are most easily fixable? Here's a deep dive into the flags.
Alabama penalties in Texas A&M game
False start: 8
Unsportsmanlike conduct: 1
Roughing the passer: 1
Pass interference: 1
Illegal snap: 1
Personal foul: 1
Defensive holding: 1
There's a nice variety of penalties here, but false starts were far and away the biggest issue. Six different offensive players committed at least one with guard Jaeden Roberts and tight end CJ Dippre each getting flagged twice.
Of these penalties, 11 of the 14 were the result of mental mistakes. Only three of the 14 resulted from what happened as the result of just playing football.
Penalties all season for Alabama football
False start: 13
Holding: 7
Pass interference: 3
Defensive holding: 3
Roughing the passer: 3
Illegal snap: 3
Offsides: 2
Delay of game: 2
Ineligible man downfield: 2
Facemask: 1
Targeting: 1
Unsportsmanlike conduct: 1
Personal foul: 1
Illegal shift: 1
The false starts had been somewhat of a problem before Saturday, but with eight of them against the Aggies, that rocketed into No. 1 on this list.
The breakdown of football penalties that result from playing the game vs. mental/discipline penalties falls 20-23. The mental/discipline penalties have the slight edge.
Which penalties are included in which category?
Football penalties: pass interference, defensive holding, roughing the passer, holding, face mask, ineligible man downfield and targeting.
Mental/discipline penalties: False starts, unsportsmanlike conduct, illegal snaps, personal foul, offsides, delay of game and illegal shift.
The football penalties are bound to happen, though they're important to clean up when possible. The discipline penalties should not happen much at all, but they have. That's the bad news. The good news is they can be fixed through better focus and attention to detail. That's sometimes difficult, but overall, it's something that doesn't take an instant or significant improvement as a football player.
"Self-inflicted wounds are going to be something that we can resolve because they’re all fixable," Saban said. "We certainly need to do that if we’re going to be able to compete at a high level in the future.”
Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men's basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Unpacking Alabama football penalties: What's fixable for Nick Saban?
