Alabama football had an escape on Saturday. The Crimson Tide survived a major scare at the hands of South Florida on Saturday, winning 42-16 at Bryant-Denny Stadium, scoring the most points after leading by just two points in the fourth quarter.

There’s plenty to fix from Kalen DeBoer and co.’s ugly performance. Before the Tide move on to Wisconsin Week, here are three takeaways from Saturday’s win.

Problems with the attack line

The Crimson Tide’s offensive line was a bit patchy on Saturday, with regular left tackle Kadyn Proctor missing the game due to a shoulder injury he suffered during warmups before the season opener.

Instead of Elijah Pritchett, who started against Western Kentucky, Tyler Booker moved to left tackle. Geno VanDeMark took the left guard position that Booker vacated.

Nothing was going right. Alabama just couldn’t sustain drives, and a lack of blocking was the obvious culprit.

VanDeMark struggled to slow down the South Florida rush, as did Wilkin Formby at right tackle. Jalen Milroe was often under pressure and the Alabama offense was ineffective as a result.

Proctor’s return can’t come soon enough for a faltering UA offensive line. DeBoer was optimistic he’ll be back for the game against Wisconsin.

Sloppy start

In 2023, South Florida scared Alabama to death. The Bulls kept it close until the end, and the game became a turning point in the Crimson Tide’s SEC championship season.

That shouldn’t have happened again. But in the first half, nothing came easy for Alabama.

USF quarterback Byrum Brown found success through the run game, and the Bulls took an early 3-0 lead. Alabama regained the lead, but never found traction in the first half.

Penalties didn’t help. Alabama struggled to sustain drives and lacked the big-play punch it had shown against Western Kentucky.

The offensive line struggled and while USF was never able to take full advantage of that, Alabama gave the less talented Bulls far too many chances early on.

Costly fines

On South Florida’s first drive of the game, it appeared the Crimson Tide had the Bulls stopped. USF was faced with a third down in its own territory and quarterback Byrum Brown couldn’t find a receiver before being stopped in front of the chains.

Unfortunately for Alabama, there was a flag on the field. Domani Jackson was called for a defensive hold and the Bulls took an early lead on a second-chance field goal.

Later, offensive guard Geno VanDeMark denied a touchdown to Justice Haynes with a holding penalty. The drive ended in a touchdown anyway, with Jalen Milroe hauling it in from 10 yards out.

The Crimson Tide then forced a run. A false start by Tyler Booker caused problems on the next drive, and UA had to punt the ball back.

In the second quarter, Alabama denied two first downs with holding penalties on the same drive, including a second on VanDeMark. An intentional grounding call on Milroe, followed by a sack, forced the Tide to punt on a 4th-and-38 deep in their own territory.

Towards the end of the half, Milroe took off for a 74-yard touchdown run, which was called back and the drive ended with an Alabama punt.

All told, the Crimson Tide finished the first half with eight penalties for 60 lost yards. DeBoer has spoken of his desire to eliminate “dumb penalties,” but his team had plenty of them early.