Alabama Kicker Joseph Bulovas Posts Message to Crimson Tide Fans

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama redshirt sophomore kicker Joseph Bulovas posted as message to Crimson Tide fans on Sunday evening.

“After reflecting on the game, I just wanted to express my apologies to the entire Crimson Tide nation,” Bulovas wrote. "Nobody was more disappointed than myself. Regardless of the circumstances, that is a kick I should make in my sleep and nobody is as big of a critic as I am of myself.

"To the fans, my coaches, and my teammates; I promise you will never see a guy work as hard as I will for the entirety of my career because I owe that to all of you.

"I refuse to let this be anything more than a bump in the road and I’m confident I will come back better because of it. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and this one was hard to take to say the least, but I have confidence in this team and in myself and that’s what’s motivating going forward.

“I have and will always give it everything I’ve got for this team which is something that will never change. God Bless and Roll Tide.”

Bulovas had his 30-yard attempt hit the upright with 2 minutes remaining against Auburn, after the Crimson Tide had a 12-play, 52-yard drive stall in the red zone — with a false-start penalty contributing on second-and-goal at the 10.

Even after the miss, the Crimson Tide squandered its final chance to get the ball back with roughly a minute to play when the defense was called for a substitution infraction on fourth-and-4, allowing Auburn to run out the clock.

"We had full confidence," junior right tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. said about offense having enough time to score.

Alabama also had two passes intercepted and returned for touchdowns during the game.

Although Bulovas was Alabama's primary kicker in 2018, Will Reichard took over kicking during at the started of the season before suffering a hip injury. The freshman hasn't played since aggravating it against Tennessee on Oct. 19.

Bulovas was 8-for-11 on field-goal attempts, and 54-for-56 on extra points this season. Reichard was 4-for-7, and 21-for-22, respectively. On kickoffs, Bulovas averaged 48.9 yards with 12 touchbacks, while Reichard 63.1, with 22 of 29 attempts touchbacks.

“I don’t think anybody feels any worse than Joe does about missing the kick,” Nick Saban said after the game. “I mean, he works hard. He’s a very conscientious guy. He’s done a great job for us this year in taking over. I mean, nobody feels worse than him. We all feed bad, and we all should, we all should. I should feel bad that we didn’t do a better job with our team. And the players, it’s OK for them to feel bad, too, because we didn’t play as well as I hoped that we would.

“Joe’s play is just one play. One play doesn’t win or lose the game. There were a lot of other plays in the game that put us in the situation that we were in. And I know nobody feels worse about it than Joe. He’s a great young man.”