The final score was 42-16. Hardly ever has the end tally of an Alabama football game told less of the story.

The Crimson Tide was locked in a battle with South Florida until the very end, holding just a two-point lead late in the fourth quarter. The root of many of the issues came back to the Tide’s offensive line.

“I think a lot of it is just number of reps that they’ve had together,” DeBoer said. “It was pretty much just this week for two practices and it showed. It showed that we weren’t on the same page with different things and different calls.”

The group wasn’t at full strength to begin with on Saturday. Starting left tackle Kadyn Proctor missed the game with a shoulder injury, which forced regular left guard Tyler Booker outside.

Geno VanDeMark filled the guard spot.

“I think we’re going to be in better shape offensive line-wise going into next week,” DeBoer said. “So it was a little touch-and-go there at some points during the week with a few different guys.”

The obvious, most glaring problem was the penalties. The Crimson Tide had five holds on Saturday, negating multiple touchdowns.

Alabama also got called for an illegal block in the back and two false starts. All told, the Alabama offensive line cost the Crimson Tide seventy yards in penalties.

“We just need to be more disciplined,” Alabama center Parker Brailsford said.

Brailsford and Jalen Milroe mishandled a snap at the beginning of the fourth quarter that cost the Crimson Tide a scoring opportunity deep in the red zone when USF recovered the fumble. Over on the right side, Jaeden Roberts played fairly well at guard, but Wilkin Formby struggled at tackle.

Much of the pressure Milroe faced came from Formby’s spot. The Tuscaloosa native also had three of the Alabama holding penalties.

When Pritchett entered the game for Formby on the right side, things took off for the Tide, which added scores late to widen the margin over the Bulls. Afterward, Brailsford defended his teammate.

“I think if Wilkin was in there, regardless, we would have done the same thing,” the center said. “I think it was about all of us together, more than just one person.”

Alabama faces its first Power Four opponent on Saturday, when it travels to Wisconsin. It’s also UA’s first road game.

According to Brailsford, It’s going to be key for the Tide to clean things up, especially communication-wise, before the trip.

The Tide could also continue to use the lessons it learned from an attitude change late in Saturday’s matchup.

“Just do your job,” Brailsford said. “Stop trying to be a hero. Stop trying to do everybody else’s job. Stop thinking about what everybody else has going on. Just do your job. And we did that and then obviously you saw the result.”

Alabama and Wisconsin are scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. CT Saturday in Madison. The game will be aired on FOX.