TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s 13 penalties headlined its list of concerns coming out of Saturday’s 43-16 win over South Florida. While yellow flags littered the newly dedicated Saban Field inside Bryant-Denny Stadium, a red one is beginning to emerge for the Crimson Tide following its first two games.
For the second straight week, Alabama lost the ball on a bad snap. This time, it cost the Tide points, as Jalen Milroe failed to secure an under-center exchange from Parker Brailsford on third-and-goal from the South Florida 2-yard line early in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t know if I didn’t hold it in there long enough or what happened,” Brailsford said after stating that he plans to go back over the mistake on film. “We’ll figure it out.”
Milroe said the mistake was on him, and attributed it to a lack of communication.
“I’ve got to do a better job under center,” Milroe said. “I’ve got to do a better job communicating early on, especially with the shot clock, especially when we’re so close to the end zone. So I take full ownership on that. I’ve got to be better on our end. So moving forward, that’s something I’ve got to improve on.”
The costly turnover came while Alabama was struggling on offense and clinging to a 14-13 lead. Fortunately for the Tide, it was able to make up for the mistake, scoring touchdowns on its final four possessions to blow the game open late.
However, Alabama doesn’t need a reminder of how devastating bad snaps can be. The Tide was plagued by snapping miscues between Milroe and Seth McLaughlin last year, including a couple of crippling mistakes during the College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Michigan.
While McLaughlin transferred to Ohio State this offseason, Alabama’s snapping issues haven’t ceased with his departure. Saturday’s miscue came after the Tide lost the ball on another bad snap in last week’s season opener, as Brailsford sent the ball sailing over Milroe’s head.
Following Alabama’s 63-0 win over the Hilltoppers, head coach Kalen DeBoer credited the Week 1 mishap to a miscommunication between Brailsford and Milroe.
“I think maybe Parker was trying to signal something and get the line locked in,” DeBoer said at the time. “And that’s just a quarterback-center kind of being on the same page. And then all of a sudden it was time to snap the ball when, Jalen claps, so just things like that that we can continue to get better at.”
Milroe filed the mistake under first-game jitters, stating that “it’s something that we can both look and reflect on how we can improve.” The problem is, that didn’t seem to happen. Or, at least it wasn’t fixed enough.
Things won’t get any easier for Alabama next week either, as it is set to travel to a rowdy Camp Randall Stadium for its first road game of the season against Wisconsin. Following Saturday’s game, Milroe said making a similar mistake will be unacceptable moving forward, regardless of the environment.
“No matter what, when we’re on that yard line we’ve got to score,” Milroe said. “That’s the approach for our mindset. When we get close to the end zone, our motto is we’ve got to score. We want to put in positive plays, keep stacking positive plays and put points on the board. That was something we’ve got to improve on and something we’ve got to reflect on as we approach next week when it comes to game plan.”
