Alabama football had too many snap-related issues against Texas A&M on Saturday. The Crimson Tide had nine pre-snap penalties, mostly false starts.

According to head coach Nick Saban, the issues were due to the Crimson Tide’s mistakes with using a silent count for a loud Kyle Field environment.

“When we went on silent, the guard taps the center. And as soon as the guard tapped the center, they’d stem and move the front— which is not illegal. It was perfectly a good thing for them to do on their part. And we had numerous times where guys flinched. Because, when you go on silent, there is no snap count.”

According to Saban, Alabama has to do better in those situations. The Crimson Tide will visit both Kentucky and Auburn to conclude its road schedule this season.

“One of the advantages of playing offense is you know what the snap count is,” Saban said. “So you know when you get off the ball. Well, when it’s so noisy and you have to go on silent, you lose that advantage. And if we’re going to do that in the future, we obviously need to practice it more so our players don’t get spooked by a moving defense because everybody’s got to sort of go on the ball.”

Quarterback Jalen Milroe also emphasized the importance of getting the silent counts right moving forward. He also too some responsibility for the problems on the road, even on the regular snap counts.

“As far as the cadence I need to do a better job being loud,” Milroe said. “Being more vocal and allowing the guys to know what cadence we’re on and being effective as far as my cadence and allowing those guys to understand what’s going on; and I take full ownership of that. Moving forward I’m gonna go get together with the guys to ensure that everyone’s on the same page before the ball is snapped.”

The penalties haven’t been Alabama’s only issue with the snap this season. Throughout the year, center Seth McLaughlin has had trouble getting the ball properly into Milroe’s hands.

That issue looked better against the Aggies, with some inconsistent placement, but not enough to throw Milroe out of rhythm. On Monday, the quarterback spoke of how he and McLaughlin have gone about trying to fix the problem.

According to Milroe, he and McLaughlin have been betting each other that the center can make the snap go to the right or left side, in order to practice control.

“Just having fun with it,” Milroe said, “Disregard any anxiousness or worrying about the snap and just enjoying football and just building a connection with us.”

Alabama will be back in action at 11 a.m. Saturday against Arkansas. The game will be aired on ESPN.

More: How Jalen Milroe learned from early-season errors, led Alabama to Texas A&M win