At times during Alabama football’s 34-24 loss to Texas Saturday, it seemed like the Crimson Tide just couldn’t get out of its own way.

Penalties were a major problem for UA last season, helping cost Nick Saban’s squad wins against Tennessee and LSU. In the 2023 opener against Middle Tennessee State, Alabama only had two and the problem seemed like it might be a thing of the past.

Then the Crimson Tide had 10 for 90 yards against the Longhorns.

“Just undisciplined,” Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham said after the loss. “I mean I had one. Trying to do better. Yeah, that’s on me.”

The penalties came at crucial moments throughout the game. Jermaine Burton had two separate touchdown catches called back on offensive line penalties, one an ineligible downfield by Darrian Dalcourt, the other a hold on Kadyn Proctor.

Both of those forced the Crimson Tide to kick field goals, turning a possible 14 points into 6. The difference would have been game-changing in a matchup that hung in the balance until the fourth quarter.

After the game, Nick Saban spoke about the mental lapses by his team, from the penalties to the numerous bumbled snaps that plagued Alabama offensively.

“It’s great to have emotions and to play with emotion,” Saban said. “Everybody should have that. But that motion has to be channeled into tangible, functional execution. So you’ve got to focus on the task at hand one play at a time. It’s got to be very intentional. If you get emotional, then you make bad choices and decisions, you brain doesn’t work like it needs to and bad things happen.”

Back to the drawing board for Alabama in that department. The Crimson Tide faces South Florida on the road next week, its last game against a Group of 5 team before starting the SEC slate against Ole Miss.

If Alabama is going to compete for an SEC title this year, the penalty issue will need to be solved.

“It just comes down to discipline,” defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe said. “I’m very hard on myself, that shouldn’t have happened, I hate to be a part of the issue. But you know you’re gonna learn from it, we’re gonna definitely learn from this. I know I’m gonna learn from it.”

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