Twice in his opening statement Monday did Nick Saban mention Alabama’s issue with penalties.

Through three games, the Crimson Tide’s 7.7 average penalties rank 102nd-best and the coach is already sick of it. The flags were flying regularly Saturday with a season-high 11 costing 92 yards in the 47-23 win at South Carolina.

“A lot of these penalties that we got in this game were unforced errors, jumping offsides, things like that, critical situations,” Saban said. “Not substituting correctly on defense. We cannot put ourselves in those positions. Third and 10 is a whole lot different from third and 5, so you get an offsides or whatever and they hit a big play because you’re playing different types of coverages.”

Twice Alabama was set to take over possession if not for penalties on defense and both cost points.

First, an illegal substitution flag negated Patrick Surtain’s interception on the Gamecocks’ first drive that ended in a field goal. And in the closing seconds, Christian Barmore’s targeting flag on fourth-and-goal gave South Carolina the opportunity to score a final touchdown.

While the defense was flagged seven times (one declined) to the offense’s five in Columbia, there’s almost an even split in the penalties through three games. The defense has 11, offense 10 with four more on the special teams. Saban has the other for his unsportsmanlike conduct in the Duke game.

The official total is 23 for the season since three were declined. A year ago, the three-game tally was 22 flags after seeing 10 thrown in the season opener.

South Carolina caught Alabama’s defense in illegal substitutions twice (once declined) on Saturday.

“They were on us,” defensive lineman Raekwon Davis said. “Just loafing.”

The fast Gamecock tempo was a factor, cornerback Trevon Diggs said.

Yeah, they were going fast and, you know, we had to make quick adjustments,” he said. “They were going fast and they were subbing guys out, so we got to be better at that part, subbing and getting guys out faster.”

Of the 10 offensive penalties so far, only one could be attributed to killing a drive. Alabama couldn’t get a first down after a 15-yard face mask flag on tight end Miller Forristall at South Carolina on a possession that ended with a missed 37-yard field goal.

Three holding calls against Duke were overcome for first downs on drives that ended either in field goal attempts or a touchdown.

Alabama finished the 2018 season ranked 55th in penalties averaged with 5.8 a game -- down from the 5.0 that ranked 31st in the 2017 national title season.

No. 2 Alabama (3-0) faces Southern Miss at 11 a.m. Saturday before playing SEC games all but one Saturday the rest of the season.

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