Spurrier Questions Alabama Field Goals

NFL News - October 21st, 2009 - Written by John

Last Saturday, it appeared that Alabama simply overpowered South Carolina to an uneventful double-digit conference win -- something that is welcomed after SEC crews have disrupted games with belligerently blown calls in two of the last three weeks. But Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier isn't completely convinced it was a completely clean win. On Wednesday, he told reporters that while watching film of the game, he noticed that Crimson Tide kicker Leigh Tiffin appeared to put a white piece of material on the ground to spot his kicks during his two field goals and two extra points.

Spurrier took the incident with a grain of salt, saying he wasn't sure if using a foreign substance in that way was illegal per NCAA rules, but did note that Tiffin was quickly to put it in his pants pocket immediately after kicking.

"I've never seen that before," Spurrier said. "But I'm sure they've probably been doing it all year."

Surely this was somewhat of a ploy by Spurrier, who has been coaching college football for over 20 years and was a player in the NFL before that. It is likely he did, in fact, know that it is against NCAA rule 6-3; Article 10; subsection d (as pointed out by ESPN.com's Chris Low), that says: "Any device or material used to mark the spot of a scrimmage place kick or elevate the ball makes the kick illegal."

But the SEC clearly enough bickering going on between coaches and officials, and dismissing an all-out accusation allows him to point out a foul without stirring the pot. The penalty for spotting a kick is a mere five-yard penalty and probably would have had no effect on the outcome. Alabama still would've won by six.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban, however, said he had no idea Tiffin was using that practice and would tell his kicker to give up the gag.

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