Notes:
OPENING STATEMENT
"We obviously did some good things in the game, made a lot of explosive plays on offense, executed in the passing game a lot more efficiently and effectively. Defensively, we made stops when we needed to, when they made plays. Their offense requires a tremendous amount of discipline for everybody to do their job. When we had little lapses here and there, they were able to make a few plays but we were able to get a stop for the most part when we needed to. Special teams-wise, I think there's definitely areas where we need to improve in. That's something we certainly want to focus on this week.
"I think that this week the old 'Shawshank Redemption' statement, you're either busy living or you're busy dying. You know, it kind of means you're not going to stay the same. From my perspective, we're either going to get better or we're going to get worse. We're probably not going to stay the same.
"We need each unit on the team, each group on the team, each individual on the team to take ownership and be responsible for the things they need to do to work this week and improve as a team. We're very pleased that Jalen was co-SEC offensive player of the week.
"Chattanooga's a very well coached team. Russ has done a really good job there. They're 8-2, one of the top teams in their division. They have 14 starters returning from last year's team. They basically do a really good job on offense with the quarterback run-type stuff and play-action game, which is difficult to defend. They really play hard on defense and special teams. This is a game that we need to focus on what we need to do technically to get better as a team and try to go out and play our best game and build on what we did the last game."
Josh Jacobs?
"He played really well in the last game. I think he played well early in the season. He went through a few weeks there where maybe he didn't have quite the production but I really thought he looked like his old self in this last game. He was very productive.
Should margin of victory be a consideration for the College Football Playoff committee?
"I've heard people on the committee say that that's not a factor, that that's not something that's considered. I don't think it should be considered. I don't think that beating another team by an embarrasing score really should be something that from a sportsmanship standpoint or a common respect standpoint for the other team and their players and their families, that's not really something that should be a part of the game. I'm thinking that it doesn't affect the committee. It's not a criteria. And I certainly agree with thinking that it shouldn't be.
How did Korren Kirven and Josh Casher look at RG on Saturday?
"I thought they both played well in the game and did a good job. We'll continue to give them work and reps there, but I thought both guys did a really good job in the game."
What's the message to the team after the No. 2, 3, 4 teams all lose in one weekend?
"The message is when you win, you control your own destiny. When you don't, you allow someone else to determine what your fate's going to be. We have all these teams that lost one game now. Somebody has to decide who gets to do what. If you put yourself in that situation, you let somebody else decide what your fate is. If you take care of your business and do things the way you need to do it, then maybe you can control your own destiny in the way you play. That's certainly much more the way we would like for it to be from our perspective. We've got lots of tough games we have to play between now and then. We want to take it one game at a time and focus on improving."
Alphonse Taylor has been out a while now. Is there a good chance he might not be able to return this year?
"I think that's a medical decision. I am not assuming that he's going to come back. It would be a bonus if he did. I don't think he will, based on the amount of time that we've had, so it's something that we're still evaluating but it's something that we're not counting on."
Korren Kirven is a senior, been around a lot. How has he managed that situation? What kind of guy is he?
"He's been a great teammate and he's been really good for our team. He has worked hard. Was a defensive player, got moved to offense, went through the development that you have to do to become a player at a new position that's really kind of a developmental position that takes a lot of technique and learning. He's developed very nicely for us there. He was a swing tackle for us but we started to evaluate how he was practicing and how he's played, we felt like maybe he's one of the best five guys and we should give him a shot. He's played a little bit more. He's older. He's more experienced. He did a good job and took advantage of it."
Could you update us on Bo Scarbrough?
"Bo has a sprained knee. Medically, we think he's OK. He just has to go out there right now and get himself back in condition and develop confidence in what he needs to do. Like I always say, it's not just about what the doctor says. It's also about what the player says. Hopefully he'll be able to make enough progress in that area this week to be able to come back and contribute in the game."
You've had so much success in November. What does it mean to win in that month with so much at stake?
"I think players have to have a real focus on what they need to do right now. I don't think that creating a lot of anxiety about… I think what happens is, players start getting result-oriented. When we lost in November, I think we played to keep from getting beat than being aggressive and playing to win. I think that comes to some degree from anxiety that gets created, worrying on outcomes rather than worrying about what you need to do to get the outcome that you want. That's certainly what we try to do here. Hopefully our players will continue to respond to that in a positive way."
Tony Brown had an interception this game. How have you seen him progress on the field?
"I think Tony did a nice job in the game. There are certainly areas he can improve in. I think one of those things is just being a disciplined guy that you can trust and count on to do his job, play-in and play-out. I think he's making improvements in those areas and actually did a pretty decent job in the game, especially when he was playing star. All the players need to focus on things they need to improve on. Nobody can be satisfied with where they are right now and I'm certainly not satisfied with where we are right now. So we just have to keep on focusing every guy, every individual player and every group on what they need to do to play a little better."
Do you think being a conference champion should trump anything else on a resume for playoff consideration?
"I think I could answer the question better if you gave me a specific scenario. I think that being a conference champ is certainly a significant accomplishment for any team or any program. I also think that sometimes there are circumstances that a team can play really, really well for an entire season, and are we basing the playoff on the whole body of work that a team does throughout the year in terms of all the teams they've beat, or the opponents they've played against, or is it just one game?
"And when you talk about conference championships, if you play a conference championship… some leagues don't even have conference championships. So it's not a fair and equitable way to base that particular group that didn't play a conference championship, so you're doing the whole body of work. Then it seems a little more reasonable to look at everyone else's entire body of work to decide who the best teams are. Hey, we won a national championship here and didn't win the SEC. I mean, I think in that particular year, LSU and Alabama had the two best teams, so we had to play in the regular season. We played 9-6, and 42 guys, somebody wrote an article, played in the NFL that played on that field that day. So they were two really, really good teams. Both teams in the same division couldn't go to the conference championship. So we end up playing in the championship game. So is that the right thing or the wrong thing? I’m sure everybody could debate that. But I believe that those were the two best teams. So it depends on what the goal is."
- Pretty quiet day overall, as you'd expect this week. No eruption from Saban (yet) and a pretty vanilla press conference. The team is not practicing today.
- Sounds like Alphonse Taylor may be done for the year. Saban said he's not counting on getting him back and said it would be a "bonus" if he was able to return from the concussion he had against Arkansas.
- Bo Scarbrough's knee sprain appears to be fine. At this point they're working on getting his confidence and conditioning to the point where he feels good about contributing.
- A lot of talk about trying to get better this week and not going backwards or standing still. That's a similar message that he delivers each year during this week with an FCS opponent before Auburn.
- Said he liked both Josh Casher and Korren Kirven at RG during the game last week. We'll see what happens at that position this week.
OPENING STATEMENT
"We obviously did some good things in the game, made a lot of explosive plays on offense, executed in the passing game a lot more efficiently and effectively. Defensively, we made stops when we needed to, when they made plays. Their offense requires a tremendous amount of discipline for everybody to do their job. When we had little lapses here and there, they were able to make a few plays but we were able to get a stop for the most part when we needed to. Special teams-wise, I think there's definitely areas where we need to improve in. That's something we certainly want to focus on this week.
"I think that this week the old 'Shawshank Redemption' statement, you're either busy living or you're busy dying. You know, it kind of means you're not going to stay the same. From my perspective, we're either going to get better or we're going to get worse. We're probably not going to stay the same.
"We need each unit on the team, each group on the team, each individual on the team to take ownership and be responsible for the things they need to do to work this week and improve as a team. We're very pleased that Jalen was co-SEC offensive player of the week.
"Chattanooga's a very well coached team. Russ has done a really good job there. They're 8-2, one of the top teams in their division. They have 14 starters returning from last year's team. They basically do a really good job on offense with the quarterback run-type stuff and play-action game, which is difficult to defend. They really play hard on defense and special teams. This is a game that we need to focus on what we need to do technically to get better as a team and try to go out and play our best game and build on what we did the last game."
Josh Jacobs?
"He played really well in the last game. I think he played well early in the season. He went through a few weeks there where maybe he didn't have quite the production but I really thought he looked like his old self in this last game. He was very productive.
Should margin of victory be a consideration for the College Football Playoff committee?
"I've heard people on the committee say that that's not a factor, that that's not something that's considered. I don't think it should be considered. I don't think that beating another team by an embarrasing score really should be something that from a sportsmanship standpoint or a common respect standpoint for the other team and their players and their families, that's not really something that should be a part of the game. I'm thinking that it doesn't affect the committee. It's not a criteria. And I certainly agree with thinking that it shouldn't be.
How did Korren Kirven and Josh Casher look at RG on Saturday?
"I thought they both played well in the game and did a good job. We'll continue to give them work and reps there, but I thought both guys did a really good job in the game."
What's the message to the team after the No. 2, 3, 4 teams all lose in one weekend?
"The message is when you win, you control your own destiny. When you don't, you allow someone else to determine what your fate's going to be. We have all these teams that lost one game now. Somebody has to decide who gets to do what. If you put yourself in that situation, you let somebody else decide what your fate is. If you take care of your business and do things the way you need to do it, then maybe you can control your own destiny in the way you play. That's certainly much more the way we would like for it to be from our perspective. We've got lots of tough games we have to play between now and then. We want to take it one game at a time and focus on improving."
Alphonse Taylor has been out a while now. Is there a good chance he might not be able to return this year?
"I think that's a medical decision. I am not assuming that he's going to come back. It would be a bonus if he did. I don't think he will, based on the amount of time that we've had, so it's something that we're still evaluating but it's something that we're not counting on."
Korren Kirven is a senior, been around a lot. How has he managed that situation? What kind of guy is he?
"He's been a great teammate and he's been really good for our team. He has worked hard. Was a defensive player, got moved to offense, went through the development that you have to do to become a player at a new position that's really kind of a developmental position that takes a lot of technique and learning. He's developed very nicely for us there. He was a swing tackle for us but we started to evaluate how he was practicing and how he's played, we felt like maybe he's one of the best five guys and we should give him a shot. He's played a little bit more. He's older. He's more experienced. He did a good job and took advantage of it."
Could you update us on Bo Scarbrough?
"Bo has a sprained knee. Medically, we think he's OK. He just has to go out there right now and get himself back in condition and develop confidence in what he needs to do. Like I always say, it's not just about what the doctor says. It's also about what the player says. Hopefully he'll be able to make enough progress in that area this week to be able to come back and contribute in the game."
You've had so much success in November. What does it mean to win in that month with so much at stake?
"I think players have to have a real focus on what they need to do right now. I don't think that creating a lot of anxiety about… I think what happens is, players start getting result-oriented. When we lost in November, I think we played to keep from getting beat than being aggressive and playing to win. I think that comes to some degree from anxiety that gets created, worrying on outcomes rather than worrying about what you need to do to get the outcome that you want. That's certainly what we try to do here. Hopefully our players will continue to respond to that in a positive way."
Tony Brown had an interception this game. How have you seen him progress on the field?
"I think Tony did a nice job in the game. There are certainly areas he can improve in. I think one of those things is just being a disciplined guy that you can trust and count on to do his job, play-in and play-out. I think he's making improvements in those areas and actually did a pretty decent job in the game, especially when he was playing star. All the players need to focus on things they need to improve on. Nobody can be satisfied with where they are right now and I'm certainly not satisfied with where we are right now. So we just have to keep on focusing every guy, every individual player and every group on what they need to do to play a little better."
Do you think being a conference champion should trump anything else on a resume for playoff consideration?
"I think I could answer the question better if you gave me a specific scenario. I think that being a conference champ is certainly a significant accomplishment for any team or any program. I also think that sometimes there are circumstances that a team can play really, really well for an entire season, and are we basing the playoff on the whole body of work that a team does throughout the year in terms of all the teams they've beat, or the opponents they've played against, or is it just one game?
"And when you talk about conference championships, if you play a conference championship… some leagues don't even have conference championships. So it's not a fair and equitable way to base that particular group that didn't play a conference championship, so you're doing the whole body of work. Then it seems a little more reasonable to look at everyone else's entire body of work to decide who the best teams are. Hey, we won a national championship here and didn't win the SEC. I mean, I think in that particular year, LSU and Alabama had the two best teams, so we had to play in the regular season. We played 9-6, and 42 guys, somebody wrote an article, played in the NFL that played on that field that day. So they were two really, really good teams. Both teams in the same division couldn't go to the conference championship. So we end up playing in the championship game. So is that the right thing or the wrong thing? I’m sure everybody could debate that. But I believe that those were the two best teams. So it depends on what the goal is."
