Alabama Football: Tide Must Fix Disastrous Special Teams to Be Playoff-Worthy

The irony of Alabama’s 14-13 win over Arkansas is two-fold.

First, the difference in the game ended up being a special teams play. Jonathan Allen blocked an Arkansas extra point that assured the Razorbacks would never lead in the game and could only get as close as one.

The second is that Alabama’s best player Saturday was its punter. JK Scott hit eight punts for a 44.3-yard average, seven of which landed inside Arkansas’ 20-yard line. The Razorbacks’ average starting field position off punts was its own 16.6-yard line.

Otherwise, Alabama’s special teams play was a complete abomination Saturday night in Fayetteville and a big reason why Arkansas was able to hang around so long and get so many chances to stay alive in the game.

And after a game in which a late special teams blunder ended up losing it the game, poor special teams play is becoming a disturbing trend lately for Alabama.

It started quickly when Christion Jones made a poor decision on a punt return to try and dive for the ball as it was rolling around.

That gave Arkansas the ball at the Alabama 31, where the Razorbacks would have scored had Kody Walker not fumbled on the goal line.

Two Arkansas possessions later, the Razorbacks punted again, and it was the same result for Alabama. This time, Cyrus Jones was back to return, and as he waved furiously for his teammates to let the ball bounce, Maurice Smith didn’t do so. The punt hit Smith in the leg, and Arkansas once again had possession inside Alabama territory.

Nick Saban explained the two plays after the game, per Tide 99.1 FM:

Alabama fumbled two more times on returns in the second half, one by Cyrus Jones and one by Landon Collins, but recovered both, limiting the damage.

Still, four fumbles on special teams is obviously unacceptable for a team that still very much has College Football Playoff and national title aspirations.

Saban tried to give some explanation to what was happening to ball security on those returns, per Marq Burnett of The Anniston Star:

To make matters worse, Adam Griffith missed a 30-yard field goal, another bad trend after Griffith made his first seven field goals of the season. Since going one for one against Southern Miss, Griffith has hit just one of his last five field-goal attempts.

What’s most concerning about Alabama’s special teams struggles Saturday is the timing.

Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

They came a week after Christion Jones fumbled a kickoff late against Ole Miss that set the Rebels up for the game-winning score, and they continued in a season where Alabama has put a lot of emphasis on turnovers.

“One of the disappointing things to me about our team is we have made more emphasis on ball security and getting turnovers this year than I can ever remember in all the team I've been a coach,” Saban had said this week. “And we continue to not play the ball correctly and turn the ball over.”

It persisted again into Saturday night, every time on special teams.

Alabama was lucky to come away with a win Saturday, especially given another less-than-stellar offensive performance.

Saban pointed out multiple times last week that nobody wanted to talk about turnovers after Alabama’s 42-21 win over Florida (when the Crimson Tide lost three fumbles) but did after a loss.

It’s safe to say he won’t have that problem this week.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats come from Alabama game notes.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.