The argument against the "Alabama never gets called for holding" bias from officials
Fans from other schools complain that we rarely get called for holding while running the ball heavily. Georgia fans have said something to the effect "50+ rushes, 0 holding calls...how is that possible." I think it is very possible.
1) Most holding penalties are called in pass protection, not run blocking. This is true for every team, including Alabama. Most of our holding infractions on offense this season have came in pass protection and if you watch other teams you'll notice much the same.
2) Alabama has been called for very few offensive holding infractions in their bowl games, neutral field or OOC away game matchups. The crux of the holding conspiracy theory is that it is an attempt by the SEC Front Office to protect their prized asset, Alabama football and their consistent success. If this were true, certainly crews from other conferences across the nation would call these holds that are never flagged. This has simply not been the case. Alabama has been flagged for offensive holding at a similar clip as their SEC officiated games.
3) By scheme, Alabama's blocking is less likely to induce a hold call. Zone blocking is huge on double-team blocks where you play the direction of the defenders rush and quickly get to the second level. This means they will let go of a guy when they move away from them and allow the defender to go into the face of their double team buddy who will engage him. There isn't much opportunity to hold because you are playing the aggression of the defensive front to open up linemen to get to the linebackers and safeties. The old Alex Gibbs-coached zone blocking OLs got similar treatment from opposing NFL fans for years. They wondered how a team could effectively block without holding. Man blocking scheme are more prone to holding because by nature the linemen's job is beat that individual assignment. If the lineman is losing the battle, the only option is to hold and hope it is not caught.
I know opposing fans will never see it this way, but there is a reason why Alabama is a pretty infraction free team. They coach techniques that aren't infraction prone on offense or defense.
Fans from other schools complain that we rarely get called for holding while running the ball heavily. Georgia fans have said something to the effect "50+ rushes, 0 holding calls...how is that possible." I think it is very possible.
1) Most holding penalties are called in pass protection, not run blocking. This is true for every team, including Alabama. Most of our holding infractions on offense this season have came in pass protection and if you watch other teams you'll notice much the same.
2) Alabama has been called for very few offensive holding infractions in their bowl games, neutral field or OOC away game matchups. The crux of the holding conspiracy theory is that it is an attempt by the SEC Front Office to protect their prized asset, Alabama football and their consistent success. If this were true, certainly crews from other conferences across the nation would call these holds that are never flagged. This has simply not been the case. Alabama has been flagged for offensive holding at a similar clip as their SEC officiated games.
3) By scheme, Alabama's blocking is less likely to induce a hold call. Zone blocking is huge on double-team blocks where you play the direction of the defenders rush and quickly get to the second level. This means they will let go of a guy when they move away from them and allow the defender to go into the face of their double team buddy who will engage him. There isn't much opportunity to hold because you are playing the aggression of the defensive front to open up linemen to get to the linebackers and safeties. The old Alex Gibbs-coached zone blocking OLs got similar treatment from opposing NFL fans for years. They wondered how a team could effectively block without holding. Man blocking scheme are more prone to holding because by nature the linemen's job is beat that individual assignment. If the lineman is losing the battle, the only option is to hold and hope it is not caught.
I know opposing fans will never see it this way, but there is a reason why Alabama is a pretty infraction free team. They coach techniques that aren't infraction prone on offense or defense.