"What happened on the play is we really didn't rough the center," Saban said. "We did what we call 'beach,' which we blocked several field goals doing this by putting A'Shawn Robinson and a couple other big guys like Jarran Reed and maybe Darren Lake or whatever. They get shoulder to shoulder and they try to get in the center-guard gap, on the guard and then on the guard-tackle gap and they push three guys on one to penetrate."
It worked last year as Jonathan Allen blocked an extra point in the 14-13 win over Arkansas, Alabama's opponent at 6 p.m. Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"Well, people have a tough time with those guys, so what they start doing is they snap the ball and the center tries to lean over to the beach side to try to give the guards some help. Well these guys are pushing and then their hands go up to block the kick. Well, when Jarran Reed or one of the guys' hand went up, it hit the center in the face and that's hands to the face.
"Again, it's a good rule for player safety and all that type of stuff. So it wasn't like somebody just hauled off and run over the center, it was kinda almost accidental contact. He was raising his hands up to block the kick as he was pushing in the gap and the guy leaned his way. It was just one of those things. I don't think it was a malicious thing on the part of our players. It's not something that gets called a lot but I think people respect the rule and try not to hit the center."