Alabama's Preventable Penalty a Mark of Unfocused Football

The Crimson Tide's clerical error gave away one of the precious few defensive stops in FirstBank Stadium.

Alabama Crimson Tide running back Justice Haynes (22) is brought down by Vanderbilt Commodores linebacker Langston Patterson (10) and Vanderbilt Commodores linebacker Bryan Longwell (4) during their game at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. / Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Alabama football program dispersed rat traps throughout the Mal Moore Athletic Facility this past week to warn its players of this week's "trap game" against the Vanderbilt Commodores. The messaging missed the mark with the AP Poll's newest No. 1 ranked team as the Crimson Tide fell to unranked Vanderbilt 40-35 in Nashville.

The Alabama defense allowed Vanderbilt to control the pace and possession in the contest as they gave up 166 rushing yards and allowed the Commodores to convert on 12-of-18 third downs throughout the contest.

Defensive stops came at a premium in FirstBank Stadium and even when Alabama was able to manufacture a Vanderbilt punt the Crimson Tide's lack of focus put the Commodores right back on the field.

The Crimson Tide forced one of its six third down stops near the end of the first quarter to give the Alabama offense the ball back trailing by just six points. Wide receiver Ryan Williams hauled in the Vanderbilt punt inside the 10-yard line and the stop and new possession were secured, or so everyone thought.

Alabama's first penalty of the game was completely avoidable. The Crimson Tide was flagged for duplicate numbers on the field as both Williams and fellow freshman Zabien Brown were both on the field wearing jersey number two.

"Yeah, we win as a team, we lose as a team, and that's all of us," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. "We have communication and ways of making sure we're all on the same page and just what we called, requiring certain guys to be on the field, didn't get circulated around to everyone."

"I mean, we're well aware of that situation and we've got to do a better job. It's like I said, we win as a team, we lose as a team. Those are the things that really hurt you because I think they kept the drive alive and ended up scoring a touchdown. It was just that hump that we couldn't quite get over through a lot of the game and that was an early one."

The Crimson Tide cut its penalties from a week ago by four, but nearly each of this week's six was costly for Alabama. The Commodores scored 12 plays after Alabama's duplicate number penalty to take the score to 20-7 as Vanderbilt continued to bloody the Crimson Tide's nose.

The Commodores took the fight to the Crimson Tide on Saturday, grinding Alabama down by running 75 offensive plays in the game over the course of 42:08 of possession time but it was the unforced errors that prevented Alabama from leaving Music City singing a victory tune.