Alabama’s dramatic 4th down TD against OU was wiped out due to clear officiating error

On By Littum

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

There’s just one problem: The officiating crew threw an illegal touch flag, reigning star receiver Ryan Williams was covered on the play.

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

Here’s how the original play played out, with Williams making an acrobatic catch and getting a foot in bounds. If not for the phantom flag, there is no doubt that this touchdown would have stood as a clean catch.

ESPN’s television crew was beside themselves, while rules analyst Bill Lemonnier indicated that it was not a callable penalty.

“It just doesn’t make sense. If it was a receiver that wasn’t covered, it would be called at the line of scrimmage immediately, not 5 seconds after the play is already down the sideline,” Kirk Herbstreit asked.

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

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

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

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