Alabama ate Missouri Saturday night with relatively little drama. However, toward the end of the game, Alabama defensive lineman Raekwon Davis apparently got frustrated and took a few shots at Missouri guard Kevin Pendleton.
He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, and has since apologized. That’s not enough.
It is unclear why Davis was not ejected from the game, as throwing a punch has historically been enough for that to happen. It is also thoroughly disappointing that Coach Saban did not keep him out of the game beyond a couple of plays, and apparently hasn’t had anything to say about it.
Now I’ve read some grumbling here and there about Missouri playing dirty in the trenches. And we all saw Henry Ruggs III get his leg twisted. Fine. I get it. You still don’t lie on top of a guy and hit him. There are lessons here about maturity and restraint. There’s also a very basic one about the optics of situations.
When Nick Fairley was at Auburn, I regularly fumed at what he got away with, and how little was said about it. I also thought a time or two that this kind of nonsense wouldn’t go on at Alabama.
And here we are.
Coach Saban, I don’t think you need to spend half a press conference on this, but an acknowledgment and further discipline is clearly indicated.
Allowing this to settle into the narrative is unacceptable.
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Sounds fine:
“I visited with [SEC commissioner Greg Sankey] about Raekwon’s actions, and we will handle that internally,” Saban said. “We will have him do some things. I think it should affect his playing time in the future.”
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/24990522/tua-tagovailoa-alabama-crimson-tide-expected-fully-practice-nick-saban-says
Well, yes, I was surprised that he was back in the game after one play. In his defense, however, you can see that the guy he punched was happily punching a different Alabama player as they were all going to the ground. You can find a replay on YouTube that shows it. Still I am surprised that he was put back in the game as it doesn’t represent the level of discipline that we normally see from the team.