Alabama wrapped up its home slate on a high note Saturday, blowing out FCS opponent Chattanooga 66-10. Following the game, Nick Saban praised his players for their performance as well as their growth throughout the year. Here’s a transcript of what he said as well as my takes on his comments.
Opening statement
"So I'm really pleased with the way the guys came out and played today. These are the kind of games you really want to maintain your intensity. Keep trying to improve, trying to get better. I thought we had a pretty good week of practice. I thought it carried over in the game in our ability to execute and do the things we need to do. I'd say about 98% of the time we had the right intensity. There was one drive there on defense where they scored a touchdown where we made a couple mistakes and made a couple other mistakes that led to big plays on their part, but for the most part I was really pleased.
"I thought Jalen played really, really well in the game, starting out like 10-for-10 or something and he made some explosive plays, which were designed and practiced all week based on how they play and what they do. So it's always good to see when you practice something and then you go out and execute it in a game and it works out exactly how you planned and some of those things did. Players did a good job of executing. Burton had a good day today with some big plays. We got to play a lot of players, which I think is something that — a lot of these guys, man, they work hard all year long. They don't get a lot of positive self-gratification, some of them don't even get to dress for games.
"We dressed everybody who was healthy today, I took 134 guys and got to play a ton of guys and always happy to be able to do that. It's good for their development, it's good for their experience and obviously they can learn and grow from that as well. Just having the opportunity to play in the game in Bryant-Denny Stadium's got to be a great experience for some of these guys and we certainly appreciate the work that they do all year to help the other players get ready to play so for them to be able to play is really special to me."
Tony’s take: This game was everything you could ask for our of a matchup against an FCS opponent. Alabama’s offensive stars performed well and were able to exit the game by halftime. Meanwhile, five players — Malik Benson, Caleb Downs Justice Haynes, Robbie Ouzts and Richard Young — all recorded their first career touchdowns. Alabama’s defense was also solid aside from a couple of breakdowns. Perhaps most importantly, no one picked up a major injury.
On Caleb Downs taking over on punt returns
"Yeah, we've got confidence in him. We've got confidence in IB [Isaiah Bond.] I've got confidence in Kool-Aid, but he should've returned the first one, and he fair caught it. And then he shouldn't have even fielded the second one, and he fumbled it. So you know sometimes when you're in that position confidence is really, really important, and we've got to get his confidence back. Caleb's got confidence. Obviously did a great job on the middle return that we ran today, made somebody miss, hit it up the chute, guys did a good job of fitting and finishing on their blocks and all he had to beat was the punter and he did a good job of that."
Tony’s take: Saban loves Kool-Aid McKinstry and was never going to pile on to his special teams struggles. However, it sure feels like Alabama has a new punt returner in Caleb Downs. The true freshman wasn’t perfect, beginning his returning duties with a pair of dubious fair catches. However, his 85-yard touchdown return showed what he can do with the ball in his hands.
Downs will need to remain consistent if he wants to lock down the punt return job for good. After all, a lack of playmaking ability isn’t what lost McKinstry the job in the first place. However, it’s hard not to be optimistic about Downs’ future in the role.
On Will Reichard's career
"Fantastic. I don't know if anyone's had a more productive career relative to what their role is, what their job is, what they're supposed to in terms of his consistency his performance and the way he's improved. His mindset, his leadership and how he affects the other specialists on this team, and how he's helped them grow and develop. Will's been a great asset to this organization for a long time and done his job about as well as anyone can expect somebody to to do it."
Tony’s take: Naturally, Will Reichard was perfect in his final game inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. The graduate kicker hit a 50-yard field goal and knocked in all nine of his extra-point tries. That moves him to 521 career points, just 10 away from setting the NCAA record of 530 held by former Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds.
It was cool to see Reichard get to make a final field goal, especially one from 50 yards out. This could have been a game where he was only able to attempt extra points.
On Chris Braswell's targeting penalty
"Well, you know, we keep telling guys you've got to keep your eyes up, you've got to see what you hit, you never want to hit anybody with your head down. I thought his head was up, but you can't hit the quarterback in the head either. We'll just keep working on it. We had one of those last week where we hit the quarterback in the head and obviously the targeting today, so it's something we need to focus on, but I think when players see these things happen it's a good learning opportunity for everybody that plays on defense."
Tony’s take: We’ve got to get a better rule for handling targeting. Was Chris Braswell’s first-quarter hit targeting? Yes. Was it a malicious play that warranted him being ejected from the game? Absolutely not. There should be levels to this penalty. We shouldn’t have players removed for games for honest mistakes where no one is injured.
Saban can say he’ll keep working on plays like this with his players, but it’s a hard thing to coach. The fortunate thing for Alabama is that the penalty happened in the first half of a game where it didn’t need Braswell anyway. The defender will be good to go for next week’s Iron Bowl.
On this team’s growth
"Well it's always the goal that your team grows and develops, and obviously I think this team started sort of not like we wanted, but I think a lot of guys have made a huge difference in the development of this team. Jalen's growth and development, confidence, ability to execute, sort of takes what the defense gives, has sort of transformed our offense into being something that's very productive. I think it's increased the confidence of every body else that plays around him. The offensive line has made significant improvement.
"Defensively, we've had some guys in and out, key guys. Deontae Lawson is kind of the leader of the front seven. Key's the safety, makes a lot of calls in the secondary. I think there's a lot of things that we can continue to grow and develop and improve on defense where we communicate better and do things better. I don't make comparisons to other teams. We've had some other teams that started out great and didn't finish strong. I think we've got a two-game season here, and we need to focus on how we finish and how we continue to improve and how we continue to have the right mindset to be able to execute, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of who we're playing and where we're playing and that's what our focus is going to be on this week."
Tony’s take: Saban has addressed this a lot in recent weeks, but Alabama has completely transformed from the team it was early in the season. A lot of that has to do with starting quarterback Jalen Milroe. However, the emergence of right guard Jaeden Roberts and receiver Kendrick Law have been equally important. Defensively, we all knew this team would be solid. Things should get even better when linebacker Deontae Lawson and safety Jaylen Key return to the starting lineup.
Injury updates on Kobe Prentice and Quandarrius Robinson
"Q's fine, he just had a stinger. Kobe Prentice strained his hamstring in practice this week. He probably could have played in the game, but you always risk re-injury in those things. Hopefully in the next few days he'll get his strength back up so that's not a risk, and that's why he didn't play today?"
Tony’s take: A double dose of good news for Alabama here. By the sound of it, Prentice would have been able to go if this was an SEC game. It’s also good to hear that Quandarrious Robinson is OK after appearing to favor his right arm after leaving the game in the fourth quarter.
On Ty Simpson dropping the ball before the end zone
"Do I have to comment on that? Every coach says cross the goal line and hand the ball to the official. So, but again that's a learning experience for everybody too. You know, Caleb Downs wasn't carrying the ball right on his touchdown. He's carrying it in one hand, swinging it around. So that's going to be a learning experience for him.
"But I thought Ty played well today and the opportunity that he's had the last two weeks to play has certainly, probably improved his confidence, and it's good that he get some experience so that if he needs to play he's going to be able to go in there and execute."
Tony’s take: Saban probably secretly loves that Ty Simpson dropped the ball too early on his would-be touchdown run. Alabama didn’t have to pay for the mistake as Richard Young punched the ball into the end zone on the following play. Now, Saban can use this as an example to prevent a similar lapse in concentration from occurring in a more impactful situation down the road. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Simpson has to pay for this during Monday’s practice.
On Justice Haynes' performance
"Justice is a really good player, probably hasn't got as many opportunities as we'd like for him to because of the depth at that position. I was very pleased with the way he played. He made an outstanding run for a touchdown at the end of the game, but 19 did a heck of a job blocking for him downfield so that he could score a touchdown. Justice has done a really good job and we have a lot of confidence in them."
Tony’s take: Justice Haynes would have a bigger role on most teams. However, the true freshman running back is having to wait his turn in one of the nation’s best backfields. Still, the future his bright for the top-rated back in this year’s class. Haynes provided a glimpse of his future production, running for 42 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries Saturday.
On what this senior class means to the program
"Yeah, these seniors have done a great job of representing the program, representing the university, on and off the field. Really good group of fine young men that I am very proud of the way they've developed personally, academically, the success that they've had in school and developing a career off the field and what they've contributed to the team. Some of these guys have been fantastic leaders, set a great example.
'The one thing that's been really, really good over the years for us and these guys did a fantastic job of that as well, is the older guys embracing the younger guys that come into the program. In some places that doesn't happen but it always happens here. It's very helpful to the development of our young players and we always have a lot of young players who contribute because our team turns over faster, guys going out for the draft and all that kinds of stuff, so these guys have done a phenomenal job of embracing the young players on our team and helping them grow and develop and done a fantastic job of representing our program."
Tony’s take: As Saban pointed out, there’s a lot of togetherness on this team. After the game, you could tell that the seniors were genuinely happy for the younger players who had the opportunity to make more of an impact. That leadership is a big reason why Alabama has been able to overcome so much adversity this season.
