It had been a while since this Alabama offense stepped into a scene like it faced Saturday. There was pent up aggression in the 90,000 plus who crammed into a compact Ben Hill Griffin Stadium seating bowl with every seat right on top of the field.
Long gone are the days of 20% seating capacities and that was unmistakable when Alabama arrived in Gainesville to face No. 11 Florida. From the opening possession delay of game penalty, the noise had a clear impact on the communication from quarterback Bryce Young to his offensive linemen and receivers.
Alabama was flagged four times for false starts and starting guard Emil Ekiyor on Monday explained some of the issues.
“Just trying to hear Bryce change the calls or change the protection, it can be hard sometimes just trying to hear,” Ekiyor said. “We had some issues with that sometimes and communicating which type of cadence we were doing. Sometimes we were confused on whether we were going on the clap. We had started with the clap going into the game, but as the sound got louder, obviously couldn’t hear the clap. We went to a silent cadence later on in the game, so that was a little bit better.”
This was an issue the last time Alabama played in a hostile environment.
A 2019 Iron Bowl loss at Auburn included false starts on offensive linemen six times -- three alone on the final drive that ended with a missed field goal that would’ve tied the game.
RELATED: Alabama WR Slade Bolden explains how he responded to dropped TD pass at Florida
Alabama’s won 17 straight games since that 48-45 loss when Young was still a senior in high school. The sophomore quarterback didn’t experience any loud crowds as a freshman backup to Mac Jones last year and the Florida crowd didn’t allow much of an acclimation period.
Saban after the game said there were some snap count issues that weren’t necessarily Young’s fault.
“The center had a tough time hearing a couple of times and we snapped the ball late and got some penalties,” Saban said.
What bothered Ekiyor the most, however, was Alabama’s inability to finish a drive with a touchdown after reaching first-and-goal from the Gator 2. Brian Robinson ran up the middle for one yard on first down and after an incomplete pass, Jase McClellan was stuffed for no gain on third down.
“It’s part of our identity to punch it in on the goal line,” Ekiyor said. “Not being able to do that is a shot at the offensive line and we have to do better. We just can’t do that. We’re on the one-yard line. We have to score. It’s just unacceptable. So going forward, we’re going to make it a point to do better in those situations. It just wasn’t acceptable. We have to execute better.”
Alabama settled for a Will Reichard field goal after Ekiyor was flagged for a false start with the offense lined up to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1. The kick made it an eight-point game, enough to preserve the win when Florida’s two-point try on the subsequent touchdown failed.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
Ad Choices