Dijon Lee’s late penalty against Georgia became one of the defining moments of Alabama’s 20-17 loss Saturday, and it drew an immediate, blunt reaction from Kalen DeBoer.
With the game winding down, Lee struck Georgia wide receiver Craig Dandridge with his hand after the whistle on the Bulldogs’ final drive. Dandridge went down, the flag came out, and the 15-yard penalty handed Georgia a fresh set of downs. That allowed UGA to run out the clock and finish off the win.
As Lee headed to the Alabama sideline, DeBoer delivered a heated reprimand that ABC cameras caught in the moment. His words appeared to include “cost us the game,” directed at the cornerback.
Asked about the sequence after the game, DeBoer pointed to the standard he expects from his team.
“We preach emotional maturity, and I really feel strong that, across the board, we have that with our team,” DeBoer said. “And would have never expected that to happen. You got to give yourself a chance, and you know, a year ago we just talked about, a year ago it happened the other way, same situation, kind of at about the same time of the game the opposite way.
“And you’re out there giving everything you got. You just got to give yourself a chance, and so emotional maturity is what it comes down to, and you know we’ve been pretty good at that going on the last two years, and obviously, moment comes up like we had just now. We didn’t respond the right way.”
Alabama safety Keon Sabb said the team would handle it internally, while also making clear the standard was not met.
“He’s my brother until we die, and obviously I try to uplift him,” Sabb said. “But there’s a standard that we need to play with .
On that play, he wasn’t up to the standard. That will be addressed.”
Safety and team captain Bray Hubbard echoed that view, stressing how damaging the flag was with Alabama still hoping for one last shot on offense.
“We just got to stay locked in across the board,” Hubbard said. “We talk about having no foolish penalties. That’s kind of a crucial penalty.”
The loss dropped Alabama to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in SEC play. The Crimson Tide will try to regroup quickly for Saturday’s trip to Knoxville to face Tennessee.
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