Football 🏈 Tony's takes: Breaking down Saban's comments following Alabama's wild Iron Bowl win

[Tony_Tsoukalas]

Alabama pulled off perhaps its most memorable Iron Bowl win with a 27-24 victory over Auburn on Saturday night. Following the game, Nick Saban spoke to reporters about the last-minute comeback. Here’s a transcript of what he said as well as my takes on his comments.

Opening statement

“So do I need to really say anything? I mean, it’s an unbelievable game. I guess if you’re in this long enough, sometimes it goes against you in the last play of the game, and sometimes you’re fortunate and it goes for you. And our players really stepped up, got a couple stops when we needed to on defense, which we didn’t play great all day but we got stops when we needed to. And offense put some drives together and we overcame adversity – bad snap when we got an opportunity to score and then we make a great play on fourth down. So I can’t say enough about the resiliency of our players, how they competed in the game, played hard in the fourth quarter.

“You’ve got to give Auburn’s team a lot of credit, too man. They played lights-out. Watch them play last week and watch them play this week, it’s not the same team. But we knew we were going to have a tough game here and tried to convince our players of that. But I was really pleased with the way we started the game. When we started the game, we had some great drives, we had two touchdowns called back because of penalties and we allowed them, by our inability to stop the run on defense, to get back in the game early on when we should have the game well in hand.

“Part of the strategy going into this game was we wanted to get ahead so that they couldn’t just run the ball and get them in some loose-play situations and maybe we could rush and do some things that would affect the quarterback and it would be a little bit more of a game in our favor. So it’s kind of a reality check, though, I think. It’s what I told the team afterwards. Sometimes it can not be a great thing when you don’t play really good and win, even though it’s great to win. But everybody needs to have a reality check and build on the good things that we did – and there were a lot of good things in this game – but also we’ve got to fix the things we need to fix because we’re going to play a really good team next week in the SEC Championship Game.

“I’m happy for our players, I’m happy for our fans and this was a great win for our team. So I’m proud of this team to come from where they were early in the season to win 11 games, to win the SEC West and have an opportunity to play in the SEC Championship Game, which I think is one of the greatest venues in college football.”

Tony’s take: Another post-game press conference with Saban praising his team’s resiliency. Of course, Alabama came back. Of course, it was Jalen Milroe who proved doubters wrong and pulled the Crimson Tide through what seemed like insurmountable adversity. Those things have been happening all season. This is one of the most mentally-strong Alabama teams in recent history.

Who knows what will happen in the postseason? However, Alabama fans better make sure to enjoy the ride, because this team has been fun to follow this year.

On Jihaad Campbell’s fumble recovery on the muffed punt

“It was a good punt. It had good hang time. Jihaad did a great job of covering. He was right in front of the guy. The guy misjudged the ball a little bit, was a little off-balance and Jihaad was right there to take advantage of the fumble, the muffed kick. But James [Burnip] hit a couple really good punts that changed field position later in the game, which I think was really significant, and that play was, no doubt, very significant.”

Tony’s take: This is why you put your best players on special teams. Jihaad Campbell is a five-star starting linebacker. However, the sophomore’s biggest play in an Alabama uniform so far came when he scooped up a muffed punt Saturday night to set up Alabama’s game-winning drive.

For those wondering, NCAA rules state that the kicking team is not allowed to advance the ball on a muffed punt. Elsewise, Campbell would have been Alabama’s Iron Bowl hero as he returned the ball to the end zone.

On the final touchdown

“They’ve come a long ways, but believe it or not, we actually practice that play every Friday when we do walk-through and we do special situations. We get in that formation, everybody runs down the field and runs varying routes in the end zone. Jalen made a great throw, but (Isaiah Bond) really kind of got him in position where there was room to throw it. He pushed inside and the DB was inside of him and then he came back out, Jalen threw it back out to him and it was a great catch, a great throw. But that is a play that we actually work on, and I must admit that I think you have to be a little lucky for it to work, but I’ll take it.”

Tony’s take: Alabama might practice Hail Mary throws, but it’s a different thing entirely to pull them off during games. In fact, Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold even admitted after the game that the defense often lets the receiving team catch the ball during practice to avoid injuries.

Isaiah Bond did an excellent job of getting any separation he could, and Milroe delivered a perfect pass through a tight window. As Saban said, a play like that requires a lot of luck. However, this one involved a lot of skill as well.

On if this game is a microcosm of this season

“That’s what this team has done all year. We’ve come from behind many times, made plays when we’ve had to make them, whether it was the LSU game in the second half, whether it was the Tennessee game in the second half, whether it was the Ole Miss game in the second half. And this game today, it speaks volumes for the competitive character of these guys and the resiliency they have to keep fighting in the game. And it should be a lesson for everybody in life. Overcome adversity, man. If you’ve got the ability to do that, you’ve got a great chance to be successful.”

Tony’s take: This goes back to what I was saying following Saban’s opening statement. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a unit with more mental strength than this year’s Alabama team. They can’t be counted out until the clock hits zero.

On the fourth-and-short call on the game-winning drive

“What we did was we tried to get them to jump offsides, and we had a play if they didn’t jump offsides. We looked it. So Jalen’s under center and he looks to the sidelines, because we wanted to see how they lined up, and they had so many guys packed in to stop the quarterback sneak, we knew if we could pitch the ball, we’d have a pretty good chance on the edge. It was a good design and good situational football.”

Tony’s take: Man, trying to get Auburn to jump offsides was a risk. With all the communication issues Alabama has had at the line this season, imagine what would have happened if it had a bad snap or a false start. Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, that didn’t happen. Also, credit to the staff for making the gutsy call to toss it outside to Williams where Alabama had better numbers. Regardless of Auburn stacking the box, it’s often tempting to take the safer route an have Milroe push for the first down.

On how it felt being on the winning side of a wild Iron Bowl

“I feel good. But yeah, we’ve had some tough ones, but still, the team that played the best always wins in this game. And we played well, but we had to overcome ourselves because of penalties and things like that, a missed field goal, not playing great on defense. But I can’t tell you how proud I am of the guys and how good I feel about winning the game. But as a coach, you always look at things like, ‘How did you play?’ Because we’re going to have to play at a higher level on a more consistent basis if we’re going to have success in the future, and that’s what you’re always evaluating. That’s the reality check that we all have to make.”

Tony’s take: Saban downplayed luck all week, stating that the team that played better has won all the Iron Bowls he’s been a part of. Alabama should have wiped the floor with this Auburn team and didn’t deserve to win for most of the game. However, the Tide’s last-minute execution was enough to see it through.

In many ways, this game was a lot like the 2021 Iron Bowl where Bryce Young led a last-minute comeback drive before Alabama pulled out a 24-22 win in four overtimes. The Tide shouldn’t have let that one get as close as it did either, but it made the big plays late to come away with the victory. Don’t look now, but the Crimson Tide might have reversed some of its bad JuJu inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

On the name of the game-winning touchdown and what he told Jalen Milroe before it

“You tell him that they’re only going to rush three guys, sometimes two, and he’s reading the guys down the field, and they’re doing things to try to get open, and he’s got to pick the guy. He’s going to have plenty of time. He’s got to pick the guy he thinks will have the best chance to catch it. IB got position on a guy, and Jalen did a good job recognizing it and throwing it. And if the play had a name, I wouldn’t tell you what it was.”

Tony’s take: Saban didn’t tell me the name of the play, but Isaiah Bond eventually spilled the beans, revealing that it is called “Grave digger.”

“It’s normally at the end of the game,” Bond explained after the game. “Grave digger, put them to sleep.”

Alabama did just that as Milroe did a good job of keeping cool in the clutch, scanning his options downfield before finding Bond in the corner of the end zone for the big play.

On how Milroe led the offense

“I think he made some critical plays in critical situations, no bigger than the last one. But I thought he played really well early in the game, and I thought he played a really, really good game. I thought that a couple times that he could have run and he threw the ball when we were across the line of scrimmage, I think he just has to go because he’s hard to tackle and he’s fast. Just make a decision and go full speed. But I thought he played great in the game. His progress has transformed our team and our offense. And because he is a point guard and because he involving everybody in the game, which is the thing I think he had to learn this year, he’s now become extremely effective at the quarterback position.”

Tony’s take: Milroe created the acronym LANK, standing for Let All Nasayers Know. He did that and more Saturday, becoming an Iron Bowl legend. It wasn’t just the final throw either. Milroe completed 16 of 24 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon. He also added a team-high 107 yards on 18 carries.

The dual-threat quarterback did a good job of recognizing when to tuck the ball and run and when to by more time with his legs for passes downfield. Milroe has really matured since the start of the season. He’s a nightmare for any defense Alabama will face moving forward. That includes Georgia in next weekend’s SEC Championship Game.

On the effect luck has on this game

“Y’all like celebrating the Kick Six? We had the ball five times inside the 25-yard line in the third and fourth quarter, and we were ahead by seven points and never scored a point. Made a field goal, got a penalty, y’all blocked the next one, ran the ball to the 7-yard line, got a dead-ball personal foul in the end zone, backed it up, didn’t score. So we’ve been on both sides of the good fortunate and the misfortune, and I’ve got to admit, we had good fortune. But it still comes down to the ability to execute. Somebody had an opportunity to make a play, whether it was their punt returner or IB in the end zone and whoever was guarding him. That’s why you play the game.”

Tony’s take: This question was asked by a television reporter, who was still wearing the sideline bib Auburn gives out to signify on-field access. That bib has a big Auburn logo on it, and it appears Saban thought the reporter was an Auburn fan. That explains why he might have seemed a little defensive with his response.

Still, Saban has a point. It wasn’t all good luck for Alabama. The Crimson Tide shot itself in the foot several times in the game and didn’t get every call from the officials. That’s not to say Alabama was hard done by in any way either. These things just have a way of balancing themselves out.