Sports

Nick Saban Blames Center’s Rose Bowl Snap Failures On Noises That Sound Like Clapping

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Nick Saban Alabama Clap Snap Rose Bowl
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Nick Saban did not fault Alabama center Seth McLaughlin for the infamous failed snap(s) during the College Football Playoff game at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. He blamed the error on a lack of communication at the line of scrimmage. It came down to a perceived clap.

The final play of the game was the biggest talking point after the Crimson Tide lost to the Wolverines.

Jalen Milroe lined up in the shotgun on 4th-and-goal in overtime. McLaughlin snapped the ball low. A failure of epic proportions occurred.

Nick Saban spoke publicly about what happened for the first time during his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. He explained that the low snap forced Jalen Milroe to drop his eyes, which made it hard for him to recognize the crashing defense and cut through the C-gap behind his pulling guard as planned.

While the final play of the semifinal was the most costly, McLaughlin struggled with the snap all afternoon. It had actually been an issue all season.

Saban gave his perspective on the repeated occurrences and explained that it came down to the cadence. Rather, a lack thereof.

You know, that’s something that’s been a little bit of an issue for us all year long. You know, what you go on a clip, and you use that as a noise cadence, every time somebody hits a pad on defense — they’re not allowed to clap on defense, which is actually what happened in the Auburn game when we got behind the eight ball before the 4th-and-31 play when the ball got snapped, and thee quarterback wasn’t ready for it. You had a huge loss.

They actually did clap on defense. They weren’t doing it intentionally. The safety was just trying to get the linebacker’s attention. And it’s a common thing, but it is a penalty.

— Nick Saban

Alabama’s 72-year-old head coach was referencing a separate low snap by McLaughlin in the Iron Bowl. The center snapped the ball behind Milroe on 2nd-and-goal from Auburn’s eight-yard-line, which resulted in an 18-yard loss.

Saban claims that the Tigers defense clap threw off McLaughlin with a clap!

He knows that Michigan was not using the illegal tactic in the Rose Bowl. However, a similar situation occurred.

Saban said that McLaughlin was having issues throughout the game because of noises that sounded like a clap. The problem is that it wasn’t Milroe making the noise to indicate the cadence.

But Michigan was not clapping. But our center was thinking that somebody was making a noise that sounded like a clap and he was snapping the ball early sometimes and when we weren’t ready for it sometimes. So that’s a huge issue for a quarterback.

— Nick Saban

Here is how he said it in his own words:

Well, well, well… There you have it!

McLaughlin, who has since entered the transfer portal, was confused by the clap cadence, or rather, what he thought was the clap cadence. The repeated issues — perhaps including the final play — came down to a misunderstanding.

Who is at fault here:

  • Did Tommy Rees decide to change the cadence to a clap?
  • Was Saban responsible for the switch? He ultimately allowed it…
  • Should McLaughlin have been more aware of his quarterback’s clap?
  • Is it on Milroe for failing to execute?

That is up for debate, but it sounds like the (im)perfect storm.