After a challenging start to the season, Alabama might have gained the momentum it needs moving forward. The No. 13 Crimson Tide started SEC play on the right foot Saturday, using a strong defensive effort to down No. 15 Ole Miss, 24-10. Following the game, Nick Saban spoke about his team, commending his players on a strong second-half performance. Here’s a transcript of what the head coach said as well as my takes on his comments.
Opening statement
“We sort of told the players that we believe in our team, and it was important for them to believe in each other. But there’s a responsibility that goes with that belief in terms of being accountable to do your job, play with discipline, try to play with the kind of toughness and physicality that we want to play with as a team and eliminate the ‘my bads’ that have been really critical in us being successful. And I thought the team did a fantastic job of that in the second half. I mean, we played hard, the guys competed, played really physical, dominated the line of scrimmage, got off the field on third down on defense and kept them off the board. So I was really proud of the way the team played in the second half.
“First half, we’ve got 1st and 1 at the 1 and snap the ball before the snap count, lose a bunch of yards, take points off the board. Those are the kinds of things to me – we had another touchdown today that was called back because of a penalty. That’s the fifth one this year. So those are the kind of lessons that we want to continue to teach our team so that we can continue to improve and get better and they can develop the kind of confidence and trust in each other and themselves so that we can play better and we can play better week in and week out and do it every game that we play. But man, guys played hard, competed hard. These guys are hard to play against. They do a lot of formations, a lot of motions. I thought our guys did a pretty good job of adjusting to it in the game and especially did a good job in the second half. So really pleased.
“I thought Jalen played really, really well. They played trap down there – you guys don’t know what that is – but somebody zones off in the flat and everybody’s playing man-to-man. It’s something we do, something Pete does, and he got fooled by that when he threw the interception. But other than that, I thought he played well. He got a little dinged up, but he’ll be fine. I thought he showed a lot of leadership out there, made some good throws. We made some explosive plays. So we’ve got to continue to try to create opportunities for our players down the field.”
Tony’s take: I’ve been saying this a lot recently, but Saban is going to go lighter on his critiques of Alabama until the team starts getting more momentum. If the Crimson Tide had rolled through its first four games, we’d have likely seen the head coach harp more on the five touchdowns that have been wiped away due to penalties over the past three weeks or some of his team’s other mental errors. Saban mentioned those, but overall, he wants his players to appreciate the win. Beating a top-15 team by two touchdowns is no small feat, and this is an opportunity for Alabama to build confidence moving forward.
On how Jalen Milroe responds to adversity
“I think that’s the one thing that guys learn. I think if you ask him, he’d probably say he got a little bit affected by the first interception in the Texas game, but you have to learn that have to go play the next play. You can’t let one play lead to several bad plays. You’re a point guard, so you can’t turn the ball over, and you’ve gotta get assists. And if you have one turnover, don’t let it lead to two and just keep executing and believing and trusting in what you’re doing so that you can continue to distribute the ball where you need to, which I think he’s growing and done a really good job of that.”
Tony’s take: Milroe’s second-quarter interception was ugly. The redshirt sophomore stared down his receiver, threw into double coverage and ultimately cost his team points. Still, Saban has to be encouraged by how his starting quarterback responded to the mistake.
After the interception, Milroe completed nine of his final 11 completions for 159 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown to freshman Jalen Hale.
On the series of hard-nosed plays in the third quarter
“Yeah, I think the momentum of the game in those course of the plays that you described right there really shifted for us. The energy went up, and I think that was demonstrated by how we continued to play the rest of the game. I’m always happy to see guys make those kind of plays.”
Tony’s take: Milroe was drilled by Ole Miss linebacker Suntarine Perkins, during his 33-yard touchdown pass to Hale. The hit took the wind out of the quarterback and caused him to take a few extra minutes to get up. However, Milroe eventually returned to his feet, flexing and fist-pumping before running over to celebrate with his teammates.
That was the first of three hard-nosed plays as backup quarterback Ty Simpson ran in the ensuing two-point conversion attempt despite being tackled by the facemask. From there Jamarion Miller rocked Ole Miss kick Ulysses Bentley IV on a hit that ultimately saw the backup running back ejected for targeting. Despite the ejection, the three plays gave Alabama the momentum it needed to close out the game.
Injury update on Deontae Lawson
“He’s got a sprained ankle. He’s gonna be day-to-day. It’s a pretty good one, so nobody knows exactly how long it will take for him to respond. So that’s all I can tell you about that one.”
Tony’s take: Lawson left the game early in the second quarter. After spending some time in the medical tent, he limped back to the locker room and did not return. If Lawson’s injury requires surgery, he could be out for a few weeks.
In all reality, Alabama likely won’t need the redshirt sophomore for next weekend’s game against Mississippi State. However, he’s a vital part of the defense moving forward.
On Alabama’s running game
“I think we know we’ve got to create balance on offense. We’ve got to be able to run the ball. We’ve got to be able to throw play-action passes and take some shots like we hit a couple big plays on today. But we’ve got to be more efficient in the passing game, as well. I mean, we still had four sacks today. We’ve got too many drive-stoppers, penalties, whatever. We’ve got to continue to clean it up so that we can stay ahead of the sticks. I think you can always play better offense when you can stay ahead of the sticks. So that’s what we’re going to keep working on to try to improve on.”
Tony’s take: Saban was asked about his running game being “impressive,” but he didn’t spend too much time praising his team’s ground attack in his response. That’s likely because outside of starting running back Jase McClellan, Alabama managed just 26 rushing yards on 28 attempts.
McClellan ran for 105 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, and Alabama finished with 131 yards on the ground, but the Tide’s running game is still a work in progress.
On having patience when developing a quarterback
“I think you have to take advantage of the lessons. I meet with the quarterbacks on Sunday. I meet with them on Thursday. I just have some things that – ‘OK, here’s what you really did well, and here’s some things I want you to look at, whether it’s footwork and how you’re setting up and how it affects your accuracy. What maybe the other team plays or does.’ You’re really just trying to teach. I think you want to try to teach in a way that’s going to impact and affect them in a positive way. And Jalen’s really good about that. I mean, he really wants to learn. He really listens. Tommy does a good job with him.
“It takes a lot of patience on my part when you score five touchdowns and have them called back. So that takes patience, too. It takes patience when you’re 1st and 1 at the 1 and you don’t score a touchdown. That takes patience. So I’ve got a lot of things testing my patience.”
Tony’s take: Saban wasn’t happy with Milroe’s red zone interception, but there seem to be a lot of other mistakes from his team that are higher up on his list of frustrations. A lot of that likely comes down to how his quarterback responded to the error and his ability to take criticism and learn from it. Saban will continue to be patient with Milroe as he is Alabama’s best option behind center. There will be some growing pains, but the head coach seems to be gaining confidence in the redshirt sophomore.
On Alabama’s final scoring drive
“I think that was one of the most critical drives in the game, and then we got a couple stops on defense after that. It changes the game a lot when it’s a two-score game, especially in the fourth quarter. So we were able to pressure the quarterback a couple times on third down and create some situations where they couldn’t go for it on fourth down. But that drive was the drive that was the difference in the game.”
Tony’s takes: After Ole Miss cut Alabama’s lead to 17-10 just before the end of the third quarter, the Crimson Tide responded by going on a six-play 75-yard drive, resulting in an 8-yard touchdown run by McClellan.
The drive consisted of five rushes for 54 yards by McClellan as well as a 21-yard pass from Milroe to tight end Robbie Ouzts. It was also the only time Alabama ended up with a touchdown during its five trips to the red zone.
On if he learned anything from his team’s second-half performance
“Yeah, but I also think that they need to learn about themselves in terms of having confidence in what they can do when they do things correctly and how important that is. When they’re physical, they compete in the game, they’re relentless in their effort and how they try to dominate their box and they play with more discipline and we don’t have the negative plays that we keep sort of shooting ourselves in the foot with too often. So we’ve got to eliminate those, and I think that every one of those are an opportunity to learn. You don’t want to waste a failing, you’ve heard me say many times before, and how you respond to those things, I think, are very important.”
Tony’s takes: Saban knows what his team needs to do to win, but he didn’t need a strong second-half performance against Ole Miss to show him that. Instead, the head coach is hoping Saturday’s win will serve as proof to his players about what they can achieve if they play up to Alabama’s disciplined and physical standard.
On confusion over downs near the goal line
“I got hot about that one. But most of the time, the guy that marks the ball will signal first down. He came and marked the ball, and when they put their hand down, it’s like it’s short. So we assumed that it was short. Called a quarterback sneak, which cost us a down, and we tried to do it fast before they could line up. Well, then all of a sudden, like right when we were snapping the ball, they’re moving the chains. I mean, the chains didn’t move until we were snapping the ball. Now, the referee says, ‘I signaled first down.’ I said, ‘Well, why didn’t the guy spotting the ball signal first down?’ When stuff like that happens, the football gods aren’t with ya because it’s just a miscommunication. And we did not think in the press box that the guy made a first down. Most of the time, right away, it’s a first down, and then the guys marking the ball didn’t signal first down. It was bad on our part. If we weren’t trying to go fast, we would have been able to recover the situation, and that cost us, really. We ended up kicking a field goal.”
Tony’s take: This was a confusing set of events that rightfully got Saban steamed on the sideline.
Facing a second-and-five from the Ole Miss 16-yard line in the third quarter, Alabama running back Roydell Williams picked up exactly 5 yards. However, the officials were slow to move the chains, and it wasn’t conveyed to Saban that his team picked up the first down. Thinking that he was facing a third-and-short, the head coach dialed up a quarterback sneak for Milroe. Instead of picking up the first down, the 1-yard gain essentially served as a wasted down, setting up a second-and-9 from the Ole Miss 10. Alabama ultimately had to settle for a field goal following a pair of runs by McClellan and Milroe that gained a combined 5 yards.
On the play of his left tackles
“I can’t tell you that. I mean, you probably had a better seat in the house to watch them play than I did. I’ll be glad to tell you on Monday after I watch the film. I think both guys are improving, but I can’t really tell you. I don’t watch the left tackle every down to see how he’s doing. We wanted to play both guys today to see how they did, so we got an opportunity to do that, and we’ll evaluate it when we watch the film.”
Tony’s take: Alabama used multiple left tackles, replacing struggling starter Kadyn Proctor with Elijah Pritchett during the Tide’s fourth possession of the game. Pritchett played decently, and Proctor made his way back into the game where he put in an improved performance. Now that Alabama has its quarterback battle settled, the left tackle position figures to be the next big question the Tide has to answer on offense.
