Alabama football’s offensive line struggled throughout much of the 2023 season. Quarterback Jalen Milroe often found himself running for his life, and the Crimson Tide are currently 120th nationally in sacks allowed, with 37 through 10 games.

However, for the first time all season, UA didn’t allow a single sack in Saturday’s game against Kentucky. On Monday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban praised the group.

“They played really well,” Saban said. ” I think Kentucky’s big up front. We talked about trying to be the most physical team. I think they did a good job of that. I think we ran the ball in the second half better than we did in the first. And some of that was just how were they playing. But I was really pleased, especially in the second half, with how we controlled the line of scrimmage. I think for the most part the pass protection was a little better, and we want to continue to improve in all those areas.”

Before the season, Alabama’s offensive linemen who spoke to the media said the group, featuring the highest average starter weight in the SEC, wanted to dominate in the trenches. When the campaign began, that wasn’t the case, with the issues appearing in obvious fashion during the Week 2 loss against Texas.

The line limped through the early going of the season, allowing 4.4 sacks per game through the first eight contests. The left tackle spot, held mostly by true freshman Kadyn Proctor and redshirt freshman Elijah Pritchett, looked especially bad, but the entire line had issues.

At center, Seth McLaughlin had real trouble getting the ball back to quarterback Jalen Milroe, with bad snaps hamstringing the offense almost as much as bad blocking. Things weren’t good.

According to Saban, it was just a matter of players figuring out the right way.

“I do think we have guys that are capable,” he said in October. “I think it goes back to that same attention to detail. There’s little things like in certain protections, I know I have inside help. So why would I get beat outside? Does that make sense? These are not all capability issues.”

Slowly but surely, things have looked up. First of all, McLaughlin’s snapping has improved drastically.

He credited the fix to a change to his snap style.

“The snap issues, I just changed my grip, and it’s been more consistent,” McLaughlin said. “I went to the dead-ball snap. I think the inaccurate snaps have been cleaned up a little bit. That’s still a thing I’m trying to work on, just cleaning up the snaps in practice and in the game — just putting an emphasis on how important it is to get the ball in Milroe’s hands and let him go to work and do what he’s so good at.”

Against LSU, the Tide offensive line played its best game yet. The group, including Proctor, who has slowly begun to inch closer to his immense potential, largely controlled the Tiger front and played a huge role in the win.

Then, against Kentucky, it looked even better. Alabama finishes off the regular season with Chattanooga on Saturday, followed by an Iron Bowl matchup at Auburn, then heads to the SEC title game against Georgia.

The Crimson Tide still has a chance to make all of its dreams come true. And if the offensive line can continue improving, it would make things easier.

“It’s finally starting to come together and we’re starting to gel as a group and doing everything we wanted to do at the beginning of the season,” McLaughlin said. “Through the work on our technique with coach Wolford and the way we’re playing ball right now, it’s all really helped.”