Alabama suffered its first loss of the season with a 34-24 defeat to Texas on Saturday night. Following the game, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban spoke to reporters about what went wrong for his team. Hereās a transcript of what he said as well as my take on what it means.
Opening statement
āThis was a test for us. I told the players early in the week last week that this was gonna be a test, that we were gonna play a really good team and we would actually find out where we were as a team, and this was a test for everybody. It was a test for the coaches, it was a test for me, it was a test for all the players, and we obviously didnāt do very well. But itās the midterm, not the final. So if we can learn from some of the mistakes that we made ā coaches and players alike ā we can all get better and have a lot better opportunity, I think, to be successful in the future.
āBut everybodyās got basically two choices: you can throw in the towel and quit and be mediocre, or you can fight and grind and do the hard things that you need to do to be successful. And I think you donāt wanna waste a failing, and we certainly donāt wanna waste this failing. So weāre all gonna be committed to trying to do things better, practice better, prepare better, have a better plan for the players, whatever it is. All of us, coaches and players alike.
āAnd it all starts with me, and I obviously let our team down in terms of how we were able to execute and play. We went back up and had like 10 penalties ā two of which negated touchdowns. They got 10 points off of turnovers, and we gave up way too many explosive plays on defense. And we have to correct all those things if weāre gonna be able to play and have the kind of team weāre capable of playing. I believe in these players. These players have worked hard.
āThere was a great atmosphere in the stadium tonight. I appreciate the fans. They did their part, for sure. We didnāt do our part well enough. It starts me with, as I said before. But weāre gonna do everything we can to get it right and get it fixed.ā
Tonyās take: Saban is right in that Alabama is not out of championship contention, but this Crimson Tide team didnāt look like it belonged in the conversation of college footballās best. This is the earliest Alabama has lost in a season since Saban took over the team in 2007.
In the past, Alabama has dropped flukey games early in the season. Saturday, the Tide was flat-out beat. Even if the loss serves as the midterm and not the final exam, Alabama will need to start studying if it wants to end the season with anything close to a passing grade.
On Alabamaās lapses in pass protection
āA lot of those sacks were 4-man rushes. One of them, I think, was a 3-man rush. We didnāt get any pressure on their quarterback. Weāre trying to play so we could cover their receivers and rush four guys, and we didnāt affect him at all. The third down stuff that we did do, they did a good job of moving the pocket, picking us and playing man-to-man. So we didnāt do a very good job of affecting their quarterback, and we just gotta do better. I canāt sit here and say one guy broke down in pass protection. I know something different happened just about on each one of those. And I think sometimes we held the ball at quarterback. Weāve gotta do a good job of reading it and getting it out of your hand. And I donāt think we did a good enough job of getting away from people and getting open, and they did a good job of matching the patterns.ā
Tonyās take: As Saban pointed out, both his offensive line and defensive line struggled when it came to the passing game. On offense, Alabama allowed five sacks and four quarterback hurries while forcing Jalen Milroe to either tuck and run or make ill-advised throws. On defense, the Tide failed to bring down Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers once and allowed him time to make costly big plays downfield.
In the end, it was just a poor performance from both units. Saban can go back and watch film and make corrections. Perhaps Alabama should have dialed up more blitzes. Maybe there were protection schemes that could be better set up. Regardless, Alabama is going to need better execution from its linemen on both sides of the ball moving forward.
On if he considered making a switch at QB
āI did. But when he put the drive together to go down the field and score when we got ahead, I thought that gave him a lot of confidence. But we never, ever discussed it. I canāt sit here and say the thought doesnāt come to mind for any player thatās having a difficult time. But he made some good plays at the end of the game, and that was good to see. Obviously, the interception was critical in the game. So weāre just gonna work to try to get all our players better.ā
Tonyās take: Given Milroeās struggles, I found it surprising that Alabama didnāt make a switch at quarterback. While the redshirt sophomore did find some rhythm late, the Tideās offense failed to find the end zone on each of its first eight possessions and left its defense out to dry for the majority of the game.
Ultimately, I feel as though Saban didnāt think he had a better option behind center at his disposal. None of Alabamaās quarterbacks are proven, and itās no guarantee Tyler Buchner or Ty Simpson would have handled Texasā pressure any better than Milroe.
That being said, Alabama will need to improve greatly at the position if it is going to have success this season.
On Texas QB Quinn Ewers
āWe didnāt do a very good job adjusting to some motions. We made some mental errors, got people in the wrong spots and we didnāt match the patterns. A couple times, we were fine. We had a middle-of-the-field safety. We got pass interference a couple times. They made a good catch one time. Kool-Aid had the guy covered really well, and [Adonai Mitchell] made a really good catch. We were playing quarters, and they had a quarters beater and we didnāt poach the safety. I mean, itās a lot of technical stuff, but you canāt let people throw the ball over your head if youāre playing the secondary. So we need to get that fixed.ā
Tonyās take: Ewers finished the game 24 of 38 for 349 yards and three touchdowns. After struggling to throw the ball deep during last weekās season opener against Rice, he connected on six passes that resulted in gains of 30 or more yards.
Some of that success came from Alabamaās lack of pressure on the quarterback. Some of it came from its inexperience at the safety position. A lot of it came from Ewers and Texasā receivers just making plays.
Alabama is going to face several more quality aerial attacks this season, so it will need to sure up its passing defense in a hurry.
On Alabamaās issues with snaps
āThatās a good question. It was very surprising to me. We havenāt had an issue with that in the past. We havenāt had an issue with that in practice. And those kinds of things put you behind the eight ball on offense. You get a 5-yard penalty. We had a couple of those. False starts, I think we had two snaps and one starts. So it puts you behind in the sticks. So the discipline of playing ā and this one of the things I talked to our players about ā is itās great to have emotion and play with emotion. Everybody should have that, but that emotion has to be channeled into tangible, functional execution. So youāve gotta focus on the task at hand one play at a time. Itās gotta be very intentional. If you get emotional, then you make bad choices and decisions. Your brain doesnāt work like it needs to, and bad things happen, whether you make mistakes on defense, whether you snap the ball poorly, whether you jump offsides. I mean, we a had a chance to stop them at the end of the game a couple times and couldnāt get off the field. Let them bleed the clock. Just all in all, we just didnāt do what we needed to do to have a chance to be successful against a good team.ā
Tonyās take: After struggling on a few low snaps during the season opener, center Seth McLaughlin looked even worse against Texas. The low snaps appear to be a mental thing as Saban noted that it hasnāt been an issue in practice. Regardless, it needs to be fixed fast.
McLaughlin is roommates with Milroe before games. That should help the duoās chemistry when it comes to snaps. That being said, this appears to be something McLaughlin needs to handle himself and improve on moving forward.
On if Milroe was cautious after his first interception
āI canāt really answer that. Itād probably be a better question to ask him. I think they kind of catted the corner from the backside and they rolled the coverage ā we were in trips ā and I donāt think he saw the thing roll up and it was a poor decision. But I didnāt see a bad look from him on the sidelines ever. He was into it. He was talking to Tommy (Rees). He was getting new information. So he certainly didnāt get the poor-meās over any of it. He was competing like crazy and came back and made some really good plays. I mean, we had a chance. We got ahead in the game and what was there 11 minutes to go in the game or something? So, anywayā¦ā
Tonyās take: While Saban said he couldnāt really answer the question, it certainly seemed like the first interception messed with Milroeās confidence. That being said, I do give the redshirt sophomore credit for his resilience, both during the game as well as how he handled questions after it. Milroe seems like a very mentally strong player, and that should help his growth moving forward.
On what changed after giving up 21 fourth-quarter points
āNo, they hit big plays. If you look at until the end when they ran the clock out with like 5-6 minutes to go, we had a chance to stop on third down. They ran for a first down. We had another chance to stop them on third down, jumped offsides. But all the plays that they made were all explosive plays, all were explosive plays, and that was the difference. They didnāt make explosive plays in the third quarter, and we played better. We got off the field on third down. They took a lot of shots in the game, and they made them. And we knew they would take shots in the game. They did last year. Thatās how they play, and itās a good way to play. But if you play them correctly, they can turn out to be long, foul balls, too. And we didnāt do that. We didnāt make that happen.ā
Tonyās take: Alabama defenders said fatigue wasnāt an issue after the game, but itās worth considering if the defenseās extended time on the field early led to some of its fourth-quarter breakdowns. The defense was placed in tough situations throughout most of the game which could have played a part in it wearing down both physically and mentally.
Other than that, it just came down to execution. Texasā explosive plays were a combination of coverage breakdowns and a lack of pressure on the quarterback.
On how Alabamaās defense handled substitutions when Texas went into hurry-up
āA couple times not good, and thatās when we twice missed a match on wide delayed pass where they fly the back out, the tight end comes across. We didnāt match the pattern. And I think in both cases, I think we had the call, but I think when they went hurry up on it, we were on our heels. So I donāt think we did a good job of that.ā
Tonyās take: Texas was moving fast on offense, and there were times when the Longhorns seemed to catch Alabama off guard. A lot of that could have been due to the Tideās inexperience in the secondary as defensive backs failed to pick up coverages at times.
On fan support
āBut I do think it was a great atmosphere out there. Our fans did a tremendous job. We appreciate the support. It was fantastic. Itās a privilege to play in games like this. Itās a privilege to play at the University of Alabama. Itās a privilege to play where you have such great tradition. Itās a privilege to play where you have such great fan support. We really appreciate it.ā
Tonyās take: The fans did their part in this one as Bryant-Denny Stadium was rocking all night.
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