Kalen DeBoer still unable to make sense of continuous problem that is new to Alabama football

The Alabama Crimson Tide narrowly escaped with a victory on Saturday, and a sense of relief has fallen over Tuscaloosa.

But Tide fans didn't sign up for a sense of relief against unraked SEC opponents a week after the biggest letdown in program history .

And they certainly didn't sign up for a team making penalties and more than questionable decisions :

Penalties and more

"I mean, it's penalties. We strive for zero, and that's what we're trying to do, DeBoer said when asked about cutting down on penalties. "We emphasize it. Every situation is a learning one, and we're going to talk about that. We have to read the body language of what's happening...

"...I haven't seen it, so what I say may not be correct, but the understanding is that when he comes across the field, I know his responsibility. If he doesn't hear a whistle, you have to have a sense of what's happening in front of you—whether your guy has slowed down or not when you hit him. The ball wasn’t that deep in the end zone. I thought we might even field it and bring it out, or decide to let it go...

"...It wasn't something where he was egregiously trying to get a penalty. It's more about reading the situation and instinctively knowing the play is a touchback. That’s something I’ll see on film to understand how close it was. By the letter of the law, yeah, probably a penalty—touchback and all that. We can’t have it...

"...That one hurt us because it put us in a bad spot for the safety. Those plays kept piling up. The small things—though that was a big one—add up, and we found ourselves in a fight to the end."

The bottom line is, the aforementioned play, alongside with the routine laundry that is being thrown is requisite of an undisciplined, unknowing team. The Tide, for as long as anyone who was born in the Nick Saban era can remember, were buttoned up if they were anything.

Between the actions of captains as of late and the play on the field, this version of Alabama has been anything but.

Related: Alabama's weak spot surprisingly saved their College Football Playoff hopes in sloppy win over South Carolina