TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Kalen DeBoer isn’t making any excuses following Alabama’s 24-17 loss to Tennessee last weekend. The head coach made sure to point that out during his Monday press conference, stating doing so only “softens character” and “lowers the standard.”
That might be the case, but the Crimson Tide had reason to complain following a few calls that didn’t go its way against the Volunteers.
For the most part, Alabama players and coaches have been quiet about the officiating from over the weekend. However, offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic briefly broke the silence Thursday while sticking up for Elijah Pritchett about one of the sacks the right tackle surrendered against Tennessee.
“I’ll say the late sack, there’s no question the guy was offside,” Kapilovic said. “That was tough for him.”
Kapilovic is referring to a third-down sack by James Pearce Jr. on third-and-10 from the Alabama 25-yard line with 5:25 remaining. Pearce appeared to be in the neutral zone when the ball was snapped, initially drawing the attention of ABC play-by-play analyst Sean McDonough. From there, the Tennessee edge rusher zoomed into the backfield, bringing down quarterback Jalen Milroe for a 2-yard loss. Instead of a 5-yard penalty and a replay of the down, Alabama ended up punting the ball away.
“It did look like he got a slight head start,” ABC color analyst McElroy agreed with McDonough during a replay of the sack. “But did he time it perfectly? It looks like he’s just barely in the neutral zone. It’s a bang-bang play — one I think you could call it, you could and also leave it in your pocket.”
Earlier in the game, McDonough and McElroy both pointed out an uncalled defensive holding penalty on Tennessee cornerback Ricky Gibson III.
With Alabama facing a second-and-13 from the Tennessee 17-yard line, Milroe threw receiver Ryan Williams, who was streaking toward the end zone. Williams gained separation from Gibson on the play but was held back as the defender grabbed his jersey. That Williams to be a step late to the ball, as it hit off his extended hand in the end zone.
“Williams was being held for a moment,” McDonough said on the call. “Could see his jersey being pulled by Ricky Gibson III.”
McElroy later agreed with McDonough, stating it “Probably should have been holding on Rickey Gibson.” McDonough noted that officiating analyst Matt Austin agreed that the play was “100% a penalty.”
Had Gibson been called for defensive holding, Alabama would have received a first down half the distance to the goal. Instead, Milroe threw an incompletion the next play leading to a field goal.
Alabama was hard done one final time with 1:55 remaining when Kendrick Law was flagged for a personal foul penalty for shoving Tennessee defensive back Boo Carter following an incompletion on third-and-7. The penalty resulted in a daunting fourth-and-22, which Alabama failed to pick up.
While the call on Law was warranted, it could be argued that an offsetting penalty could have been called on Carter, who was in the receiver’s face before the incident. During the call, McDonough questioned why Carter was not called for taunting. Austin, a former SEC official, stated that he would have flagged Carter as well as Law.
“I certainly think that in this case offsetting fouls would have been appropriate,” Austin said. “You’re exactly right Sean. [Carter] did get up right in [Law’s] face. You don’t know what he was saying. You don’t know if he was taunting or not. But in this situation, because there was a retaliation, I would have liked to have seen them offset.”
Despite the tough calls, Alabama assistants shied away from voicing their displeasure on Thursday. Kapilovic stated that decisions like that are over his head, while wide receiver’s coach JaMarcus Shephard expressed no desire to make excuses for Alabama’s loss.
“I thought the refs called the game, and we’ve got to just respond to the game,” Sheppard said. “Everybody across the country is having to deal with similar things. For us to sit here and complain about those things, that’s just not in my nature. We got to deal with the environment we have in front of us at that moment, and hopefully it goes into our advantage.”
Shephard called the personal foul on Law “unfortunate” but focused on improving his receiver’s discipline, reminding him that his actions affect the whole team.
“In that moment, you took away the opportunity for them to enjoy a win because it was something that you were worried about yourself,” Shephard said. “That was the message to him. It’s not just about you. There’s 150 other people on that sideline that, guess what, they want to enjoy the victory too and at least have the opportunity to.
“You don’t want to put that mark on yourself because then other people are going to start trying to attack you in that same manner.”
