Nick Saban addresses issues with snaps from Seth McLaughlin to Jalen Milroe

Alabama struggled in multiple areas during Saturday’s home loss to Texas. Most of the attention has been on the offense — specifically, Jalen Milroe. After an offseason full of quarterback competition talk, the questions were reopened following a tough night against the Longhorns’ defense.

Before some plays could even get going, Milroe was having problems with the snap. He and center Seth McLaughlin had multiple penalties when trying to get the ball in play. McLaughlin had a couple of snap infractions, while the ball was on the ground at other times.

Head coach Nick Saban said those were unusual plays and not something he had seen from the duo in the past. The presnap penalties seemingly bothered him the most, getting Alabama behind the chains in a game they spent most of the night trailing.

“That’s a good question,” Saban said. “It was very surprising to me. We haven’t had an issue with that in the past. We haven’t had an issue with that in practice. Those kinds of things put you behind the eight-ball on offense. You get a five-yard penalty, had a couple of those. False starts. I think we had two snaps and one false start. So, puts you behind the sticks.

Saban claims the bad snaps have not been an issue in the past but one did occur in Week 1 against Middle Tennessee State. Maybe it’s wiped from his memory due to Milroe picking the ball up and finding a way to score a touchdown. It was his first score of the night, making something out of what could have been a disaster.

There was no such luck against Texas. McLaughlin’s penalties and Milroe’s ability to control snaps were a small part of why the Alabama offense was not consistently able to have success. A tough situation whenever there were plenty of question marks heading into the game.

Saturday will mark a road game for the Crimson Tide, playing USF in Tampa. In what could be a pro-Alabama crowd, there will still be an opportunity for Milroe and McLaughlin to get back on the same page in a loud environment. Rarely, if ever, does Tommy Rees send his team out there under center. There will be a full week to get back on the right track from the shotgun.

Heading into SEC play, Saban will not be tolerating any more problems when it comes to the snaps.

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