Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer said he did reach out to the SEC about the illegal touchdown penalty that wiped out a Ryan Williams touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter against Oklahoma .
At the beginning of the fourth quarter of Alabama's 24-3 loss to Oklahoma Saturday, Milroe found Williams in the end zone on a fourth-down play. Williams toe-tapped and seemingly secured a contested catch for the Crimson Tide 's first touchdown of the day.
Instead of a celebration, a flag was thrown. The official claimed Williams was covered up on the play resulting in an illegal touching 5-yard penalty and a loss of down. Oklahoma took over at its own 41-yard line.
On Monday, DeBoer said he reached out to the conference, but said there was really nothing they could do.
"There's been communication. There's nothing you can really do now," DeBoer said. "The game's over and stuff. You just have to be comfortable with the communication you do have. That's been the case with the SEC. You just move on. We're focused on the Iron Bowl."
DeBoer was shown on the TV broadcast yelling at officials, seemingly pleading for an explanation of the penalty.
Postgame, DeBoer and Milroe both said they did not get one from the officiating crew.
"But we shouldn't put ourselves in the position to be that close to allow an official to make a call," Milroe said. "We got to take full ownership, start off faster, maximize the opportunities we have in the game.
"We can't control the call," Milroe continued. "We can control how we approach each and every play. Just going 1-0 and having the mindset to maximize the next opportunity that we have in the game."
Williams finished with two catches for 37 yards on seven targets. Milroe had 11 completions on 26 pass attempts for 164 passing yards and three interceptions.
Alabama will take on Auburn at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What Kalen DeBoer heard from SEC after Alabama football illegal touching penalty
