A hampered defense wasn’t the only unusual occurrence for a Nick Saban led Alabama team last season. Penalties proved to be a massive issue for the Crimson Tide, as it contributed to allowing teams to extend drives on its defense, and plague the team’s offense sometimes bringing back massive gains.
In 2019 Alabama averaged 7.6 penalties per game which is in an increase from 5.8 in 2018 and 5.2 in 2017. The home and away splits aren’t kind to the Crimson Tide either, as it averaged a whopping 9.2 penalties during road games last season.
There was no better example of the team’s struggles than during the final moments of the Iron Bowl where wide receiver Jaylen Waddle was stuck as the 12th man on the field which resulted in Auburn picking up a first down and winning the game.
Despite the defensive side showing some promise during the team’s first game against Missouri, penalties were still a concern throughout the game.
Alabama was flagged seven times for 49 yards during the game, which frustrated Saban.
“Penalties were a big problem for the last two years,” said Saban during his weekly radio show. “They’ve been a huge problem on our team. I think we were like 13th out of 14 teams in penalties last year, and that’s something, in the early days here, we were always first of second in penalties. But it’s paying attention to detail and knowing that those details are very important to being successful, and they’re all choices and decisions that every player needs to make in terms of their commitment to having the kind of focus and discipline not to have those kinds of pre-snap penalties.”
Saban’s observation about his teams of the past is apt, especially when looking at the five seasons his Alabama teams won the national title. Throughout those five seasons, the Crimson Tide averaged just 4.48 penalties per contest.
The coaching and staff and team understand how important it is to get back to championship level discipline and Saban said the team is continuing to work on it every day.
“We’re working on it,” said Saban. “We work on it every day. We work on the defense not jumping offsides every day. We have consequences when they do, aight. I hate to be a punishment guy, but we just get so frustrated that people don’t play with the discipline we need to. We have to come up with ways to try to make them aware of how important it is.”
The team will try and show its improvement against Texas A&M Saturday with the kick off coming at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
