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Alabama, with one loss to the No. 3 team in the nation, is still in the thick of College Football Playoff contention, just as it would have been if this format had existed in the previous six seasons of dominance. The difference is that this year’s team is showing flaws that hadn’t been exposed during the Nick Saban regime, and it could cost the Crimson Tide from going forward.
The problems all seemingly stem from something you wouldn’t expect under one of the most famously regimented coaches in college football: discipline. Or rather, a lack thereof.
Some of the problems are glaring. If you’ve tuned into the Crimson Tide’s games against Ole Miss and Arkansas, you undoubtedly saw a litany of special-teams errors that either cost the team points, possessions or wins. The errors in that phase of the game aren’t due to scheme, but individual technique.
There was Christion Jones, holding the ball out like Jerry Seinfeld running with a marbled rye on a fourth quarter kick return against Ole Miss. Unlike the comedian, Jones was the one getting the bread ripped from his hands, and it led to a Mississippi’s go-ahead score.
The Tide gave the ball away twice more on punt returns against Arkansas. On one, Jones attempted to field a bouncing punt amongst a crowd of players. Diving on the ground, the ball bounced off his chest and Arkansas recovered. Later in the first quarter, Jones learned his lesson and waved off his blockers when a punt bounced in front of him. Yet there was Maurice Smith, meandering downfield and touching the ball, gifting the Razorbacks another possession.
There are more special teams problems — missed field goals, porous kickoff coverage — but it doesn’t end there. Penalties, usually an area where Alabama is usually as tight as can be, have been a problem this year. The Crimson Tide is committing 6.5 penalties per game, better than only Vanderbilt in the SEC. By comparison, the Tide committed the fewest flags per game in each season from 2008-2013, with the exception being 2009, when they finished third.
They’re not just of the innocent-albeit-annoying nature like a first quarter delay of game. Alabama is making crucial mistakes when it comes down to winning time. A false start on the final drive of the game against Arkansas could have given the Razorbacks the ball back had referees operated the clock correctly.
Against Ole Miss, a holding call pushed Alabama back from the 22-yard line to the 32 before their final offensive play of the game, a heave that was picked off in the end zone.
Special teams coordinator Bobby Williams (who also coaches Alabama’s disappointing tight end group) has been with the Tide for nearly all of Saban’s tenure, and he’s overseen a unit that even this season has exhibited some dominating, momentum-shifting play. From crushing blocks to huge returns, the special teams are still capable of coming up big. It’s just that those big moments have been offset by the boneheaded ones that boil down to individual miscues.
It’s far too early, and Alabama far too good of a football team, to suggest that Saban might be slipping. He’s never had a coaching stint as long as his eight seasons in Tuscaloosa, so the skeptic might start to wonder if his laser focus might be starting to waver. Football is a sport of small sample sizes, but less than a season of inconsistent mental effort from his team still doesn’t constitute reason to sound the alarms.
If you see Saban flipping out over another unexplainable gaffe in another close loss, that will be the real signal for concern over this team’s mental fortitude.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
