TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Even on Monday, Nick Saban didn’t want to talk about penalties.

However, Alabama had the most penalties in the Saban era, racking up 15 which cost the Crimson Tide 100 yards against Texas.

In his first press conference of the week, penalties and how Alabama looks to limit those infractions was the first question lobbed Saban’s way.

After taking a second to hear the entire question, the 16-year head coach tapped the side of the lectern with his first three fingers and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, before refocusing on the media to give his answer.

“We have officials out there every day so we get a penalty report every day,” Saban said. “Every player is confronted with, you made these penalties, whether it was offsides, pass interference, illegal motion on offense. Whatever the penalty is. And those things are always emphasized so it's not like this is sort of a (revelation) of, 'Wow, we need to start doing something about this.' We've been doing it.”

It’s true, Alabama under Saban has kept the penalties to a minimum, and the teams who have won national titles showed the importance of keeping a low average.

According to CFBStats.com, the six Alabama teams who would go on to hoist a trophy in January averaged six penalties or less for the season. In 2011 and 2012, the Crimson Tide was the least penalized team in the SEC averaging less than four infractions per game and yielding less than 35 penalty yards per game.

Saturday’s performance against Texas was a complete flip from the disciplined Alabama teams of the past, not only by the number of markers but also by how many penalties kept drives alive for Texas as five penalties gave the Longhorns a new set of downs.

“Players need to make choices to have the discipline in the game that it doesn't do any good to try to create an advantage for yourself because you're not above the law,” Saban said. “So you've got to make good choices and decisions. That's the discipline that I've been talking about since I've been standing up here, is exactly what I'm talking about.”

Will Anderson Jr. accounted for two penalties that wound up giving Texas a first down, including a 15-yard personal foul when he tackled Texas’ Ja’Tavion Sanders as he was already out of bounds.

Anderson remarked that he wasn’t “locked in” when asked about his penalties after the game, but the silver lining was that Anderson along with the rest of the team, did not register a penalty in the fourth quarter.

While Alabama escaped Austin with the win despite all of the penalties, the team is already focused on limiting those mistakes this week against Louisiana-Monroe.

“It’s all about playing disciplined football,” DeMarcco Hellams said. “We had a lot of undisciplined penalties and we’re trying to work on cleaning it up. As the season progresses, we’ll definitely cut down on those.”