Alabama’s dramatic 4th-down TD vs. OU wiped away on clear officiating error

November 24, 2024 Vaseline blog 0

Alabama’s dramatic 4th-down TD vs. OU wiped away on clear officiating error

Alabama is in a big hole against Oklahoma and is trying to fight back. It resulted in a fourth-down conversion attempt that initially led to one of the best catches you’ll see all season long.

There is just one problem: The officiating crew threw a flag for illegal touching, ruling star wide receiver Ryan Williams was covered up on the play.

In reality, there was another problem involved: Replays of Alabama’s formation clearly showed Williams was not covered up, and head coach Kalen DeBoer was seen multiple times going absolutely ballistic on the officiating crew.

Here’s how the original play went down with Williams delivering an acrobatic catch and getting one foot in bounds. If not for the phantom flag, there’s no question this touchdown would have stood as a clean catch.

ESPN’s broadcasting crew was beside themselves, while rules analyst Bill Lemonnier indicated it was not a reviewable penalty.

“It just doesn’t make any sense. If it were a receiver not covered, it would be called at the line of scrimmage instantly, not 5 seconds after the play you have already played out down the sideline,” questioned Kirk Herbstreit.

To add insult to injury, Chris Fowler said this is the same officiating crew from the Georgia-Texas game. That crew infamously picked up and reversed a pass interference call after Texas fans littered the field with trash.

Herbstreit went on to defend DeBoer as a coach who is traditionally right when he loses control of his emotions in that fashion:

“And, by the way, he’s one of these coaches that when he acts like that, he’s not wrong. He’s not a guy that’s just going to go down there for fun and work the officials,” Herbstreit said. “He’s a quiet guy until he feels like he’s been wronged. And clearly, unless we missed something, and I can’t imagine what it is.”

After the drama, Alabama is still in a major 24-3 hole with the 4th quarter quickly slipping away.