Quote:
Originally Posted by GatorBen
And even in the 2009 season, where such a big deal was made about Bama not holding, there was, at the very least, an accepted holding call against Bama in the Kentucky game.
Seriously people, I know Bama not being a very penalized team gets annoying, but making up numbers doesn't help the case. There's a number of factors, one is that even Bama's own offensive lineman have said in their interviews that there is a huge emphasis put on keeping their hands inside in practice to avoid being called.
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And like I was saying about the design of the blocking scheme, 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 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. Man blocking schemes by nature are more prone to holding because the linemen's job is beat that individual assignment. If the lineman is losing the battle, the only option is to hold and hope the refs don't catch it.
Holding by UGA toward the end of the SECCG was egregious but I didn't see any rival fans getting too upset about it. An argument can be made for a holding penalty on almost any play within the tackle box. Frankly, it is coached. However it's rarely called unless there is a blatant take down..and even then, there is no guarantee (see UGA at end of Bama game lol)