Alabama football’s penalty problem hit darn near rock bottom in Knoxville.

The Crimson Tide had been struggling in that department before Saturday against Tennessee. Then Alabama committed 15 penalties for 115 yards.

That was the highest in a game yet this season, beating the previous high of 13 against South Florida.

As a result, No. 7 Alabama fell to No. 11 Tennessee 24-17 at Neyland Stadium. The Crimson Tide falls to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in SEC play.

“Just can’t get over the hump, and it’s going to put you in situations where you’ve got your back to the wall,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “We can’t kill ourselves like that.”

From start to finish, penalties plagued the Crimson Tide. The first drive of the game, Alabama committed a false start. The second-to-last drive, Kendrick Law committed a personal foul penalty that turned fourth-and-7 in the final two minutes into fourth-and-22. Alabama failed to convert on that play when it badly needed a touchdown, down only four at the time with 1:47 left.

Alabama had false starts, defensive holding, pass interference, intentional grounding, personal fouls and more. You name it, the Crimson Tide probably drew a flag for it.

Alabama had 10 penalties at halftime. So there was improvement in the second half. But the flags still proved costly in the third and fourth quarters.

It’s a trend that has continued all season. Alabama entered the game one of the most penalized teams in the country. The Crimson Tide averaged 7.83 penalties per game, ranked tied for 111th in the country for fewest penalties. Only 17 teams ranked worse entering the game.

That number of teams with more penalties per game will likely be even smaller after Saturday.

“There are times where you see we’re locked in, but we’ve got to be better,” DeBoer said. “There’s no question. You can’t win a football game having mistakes like we had out there with the penalties.”

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.