Nick Saban Comments on the State of Officiating
Alabama broke a school record for penalties in the loss against Tennessee on Saturday. Alabama committed 17 penalties for a total of 130 yards to the the Volunteers' six. The Crimson Tide now leads the country with 66 penalties.
Nick Saban has talked about Alabama's penalties issues throughout the year, but in his Monday press conference, he called out inconsistencies in officiating.
There were controversial calls on both sides, as Tennessee fans adamantly opposed the pass interference call against Ja'Corey Brooks. Saban and Alabama fans questioned the lack of consistency of officiating, most notably with targeting and pass interference.
Saban said that he turned in a few plays to the SEC Officiating Office, including the targeting call that was reviewed and not called against Bryce Young. Saban said he was offered no explanation by the officials to why targeting was not called.
"There's two things at issue here," said Saban. "Targeting and you're also not supposed to hit the quarterback in the head [with your hand]. Last year against Texas A&M, Malachi got thrown out of the game for jumping up and trying to block the ball and for accidentally hitting him in the head. So there's really two things that should be looked at."
Regarding pass interference, there were several controversial calls. On offense, freshman Isaiah Bond looked to be pulled down by the arm and the face mask, but no penalty was called.
When asked if he wanted pass interference to become a reviewable play, Saban said all he wants is consistency in the pass interference calls made by officials.
"It's hard to define what you can and can't do," said Saban. "But the NFL defined exactly what you could and couldn't do. It's a really difficult judgement call, but you knew exactly what you couldn't do. If we made it reviewable, why would you call anything? They reviewed one of the hits on Bryce, and it wasn't [a penalty]."
No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide takes on No. 24 Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday, October 22, 2022, at 6 p.m. CT. Coverage will be on Tide 100.9 and 95.3 The Bear