Spurrier And Saban Point Fingers At Each Other

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Yesterday, Steve Spurrier called attention to the fact that Alabama was using a piece of white tape to mark the spot where their holder was supposed to place the ball for field goal and extra point attempts.

Today, he said that the league has told him that that’s a no-no.  It’s also pretty clearly stated in the rulebook.

Spurrier said that he didn’t know it was illegal.  He just noticed it on film and thought it was odd.

Well, during today’s SEC coaches’ teleconference, Nick Saban shared his side of the story.

“I have to be very honest about this.  I was not aware of this.  I have become aware of it since it was brought to our attention.  We certainly don’t want our players to do anything that’s illegal.  It is a five-yard penalty if you do anything to enhance the spot.

“We’ve done some research on it and over half the teams in the league do something with it.  They put a piece of piece of dirt or twig or whatever it is so the kicker knows where the ball’s going to be spotted.  We even saw verification where last year South Carolina’s kicker did it.” 

(Zing!)

“This is not something that is really unusual for people to do.  It is something that shouldn’t be done because it’s against the rules.  We’re actually happy that it was brought to our attention because I wasn’t aware of it.  It’s something that we’ll not do because it’s certainly not worth a five-yard penalty.”

Okay, let’s be honest, this whole thing is kind of silly to begin with.  Spurrier brought it up in his usual “naughty kid” way, probably just aiming to needle Saban a bit.

Saban has now responded and delivered a “checkmate” in the process.

Last week, the two coaches spoke glowingly of one another, so I doubt there’s any bad blood.  This isn’t Lane Kiffin versus Urban Meyer we’re talking about.  Those two point two entirely different fingers at each other.

More than likely, this is something that holders and kickers do on their own.  Something they learned in high school, I would imagine.  And most coaches probably don’t pay attention to it.

You can bet Spurrier wouldn’t have brought it up if he’d known his own kickers had done the same thing.

All that said, it’s still a fact that the next time Carolina fans yell “Cheaters!” about Alabama, Tide fans can shout back, “Takes one to know one!”

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