Following the Alabama Crimson Tide's 20-17 home loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, two key calls from official stood out. Alabama cornerback Dijon Lee got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty (that was well-deserved) for shoving a Georgia wide receiver in the helmet. The play allowed Georgia to run out the clock and stifle any Alabama hopes of a comeback.
The play that stands out more to many Alabama fans is the lack of a pass interference penalty on Georgia defensive back KJ Bolden. Bolden got there a bit early on a deep ball for Alabama wide receiver Rico Scott.
"I mean, we can't put the game in that situation where the officials, you know, come into play," DeBoer said in a postgame news conference. "And so, we just got to control the thing we can control."
DeBoer adds that he did not get an explanation from official. Following the incompletion, Alabama took a sack on third down and punted. The Crimson Tide were at the border of field goal range (39-yardline) before the sack. Alabama punted the ball to Georgia and never got the ball back partially due to Lee's unsportsmanlike penalty.
DeBoer was upset at Lee following his penalty. He knows that penalty stopped the Crimson Tide from having a chance to stop Georgia on third down to get the ball back.
"We preach emotional maturity, and I really feel strong that across the board we had that with our team and would've never expected that to happen," DeBoer said. "You got to give yourself a chance.
"You're out there giving everything you got. You just got to give yourself a chance. And so, emotional maturity is what it comes down to. And we've been pretty good at that going on the last two years. Obviously, the moment comes up like we had just now, we didn't respond the right way."
Lee's teammates offered support for him after the game, but he definitely made a costly mistake. The Crimson Tide have usually been on the other side of controversial officiating decisions in games against Georgia.
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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer explains controversial no call vs. Georgia
