The action started before the kickoff. Alabama’s Isaiah Buggs got tangled with Oklahoma offensive lineman Cody Ford as the Crimson Tide jogged off after pregame warmups in Saturday’s Orange Bowl.

The chatter, pushing and shoving continued well into the night in Alabama’s 45-34 win over the Sooners. Both teams were flagged twice for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties with a few other notable incidents thrown in the mix.

“They were definitely trying to get in our heads but we were just toning it out,” Alabama defensive lineman Raekwon Davis said. “We just played our game.”

Buggs had an explanation for the pregame dust up as the warm up ended. He’s known Ford, a Pineville, Louisiana product, since high school.

“So, it was just going back and forth on that,” Buggs said. “It was just trenches stuff -- just d-line and offensive line stuff.”

Oklahoma’s two unsportsmanlike conduct flags came on consecutive first half snaps. First came one on the Sooners’ initial touchdown, then another on the extra point. The two penalties were enforced on the kickoff pushed all the way back to the 10-yard line.

There was the potential for another on Dru Samia who pushed Quinnen Williams off Kyler Murray after a hit on the Sooner quarterback. Williams described the moment after the game.

“Yeah, he surprised me tremendously, man because I was just doing my job,” Williams said, “and when he did that, I just knew not to react because the second man always gets caught. I don’t know why he did it. I was just doing my job trying to get a hit on the quarterback. It wasn’t roughing the passer. I just got a clear shot on him. You can’t say nothing about it. We won. We won.”

Raekwon Davis picked up a 15-yard unsportsmanlike flag in the fourth quarter for taking his helmet off after a play. He explained some of the confusion on the play.

“There was flags,” Davis said. “I thought there were flags already thrown before I took my helmet off. I took my helmet off because I was like OK, what happened? I guess, I don’t know, man. There was so much going on.”

Backup safety Keaton Anderson got the other unsportsmanlike flag on a late hit as part of the kickoff return team. He later called it a “poor decision.”

Buggs said anything you saw out there Saturday night was just part of the game.

“In a game like this and an environment like this, it’s always going to be chippy,” Buggs said. “No matter who you are or no matter where you’re playing at or what teams are playing, it’s always going to be chippy.”

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.