It would’ve been easy for Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer to blast the officiating in the aftermath of the Crimson Tide’s 20-17 loss to Georgia on Saturday, Oct. 10, at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Minutes earlier, he’d just witnessed a brutally bad no-call by an official who had an up-close view of Bulldogs free safety KJ Bolden running directly over Alabama wide receiver Rico Scott in the final minutes on a deep pass into the end zone.
And really, what does DeBoer have to lose?
The penalties for SEC head coaches who publicly criticize officiating aren’t much of a deterrent. The consequence comes at the discretion of league commissioner Greg Sankey, who can issue a reprimand or a fine that we all know wouldn’t make a $12.5 million coach even blink. Defensive pass interference was clearly the proper call, and had Bolden been flagged, Alabama would have had a first-and-10 on the Bulldogs 19-yard line with 3:26 remaining and trailing by what was eventually the final score.
A chance to win? Sure. A stolen win? No, it wasn’t that.
And DeBoer knew it.
“We can’t put the game in that situation, where the officials come into play. We’ve got to control what we can control,” he said.
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DeBoer was livid after the play, and rightly so. Coaching staffs across the league submit plays to SEC headquarters each week that they believe were poorly officiated, and you can bet that one will be first among UA’s offerings from this game. But when the Crimson Tide gathers for film review by the coaching staff, nobody will be whining about the no-call on Bolden. Because there were too many other reasons that Alabama can point the thumb for a narrow, well-contested loss.
The short list puts the no-call in better perspective.
∎ Start with the sack of Alabama QB Keelon Russell on the very next play – by Bolden himself, no less – which took the Crimson Tide out of field-goal range and forced a punt. A positive play of any kind, even a short gain with a run, would have given UA kicker Conor Talty, who has yet to miss a field goal all season, a chance to tie the game.
∎ Alabama CB Dijon Lee’s inexplicable personal foul on the game’s final drive gave Georgia the first down it needed to kneel out the clock. Absent that, UA might’ve been able to get the ball back for one more drive. Alabama safety Keon Sabb was clearly peeved by it. “It wasn’t our standard, and it will be addressed,” he said.
∎ The UA pass rush was largely non-existent, giving a smart, veteran quarterback in Gunner Stockton far too much time to throw. Time and again, he was able to find receivers on an 18-for-22 passing night with a clean pocket.
∎ Georgia’s running game tore through UA’s defense for 206 yards on 39 carries, a big reason the Bulldogs were able to overcome miserably bad field position for much of the night.
There were other factors in the loss for Alabama, to be sure, but that summarizes much of what drove the outcome. The Crimson Tide (5-1, 3-1 SEC) might or might not see the Bulldogs again this season. After all, they played a second time last year after meeting in the SEC title game, and a rematch isn’t at all out of the question.
What they won’t see is a better team than the Bulldogs for the rest of the regular season. There are some big challenges remaining, with a road trip at Tennessee next among them. But the Crimson Tide came up just short against what very well might be the best team in the nation. A bad no-call by an official didn’t help.
But it wasn’t the reason for the loss, either.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: No-call cost Alabama football a chance, but not the Georgia game | Goodbread