Football 🏈 Tony's takes: Breaking down Saban's comments heading into USF week

[Tony_Tsoukalas]

The time for Alabama to lick its wounds is coming to an end. Following its 34-24 loss to Texas over the weekend, the Crimson Tide will look to shift its focus to South Florida as it will travel to Tampa for its first road game of the season this week.

Monday, Nick Saban spoke to reporters about where his team stands heading into the Week 3 matchup. Here’s a transcript of what he said as well as my take on what it means.

Opening statement

“So I don’t think it’s any huge secret or anything that we did not execute on a consistent enough basis in this last game. Too many turnovers, penalties, mental errors on defense, sacks, things that are helpful in being consistent, in terms of whether it’s sustaining drives, not giving up big plays that lead to field position and scores. So the focus is 100% on how we get it turned around.

“The future is now. So how do we get our players to - we’ve got to do a better job as coaches to help them be able to play better, more consistently in the game. Put them in a position where they have the best chance to be successful. But I think all these things are fixable. I believe in our players, I think we’ve got good players. Texas has a good team and it’s like I said before, it was a test. It was an early test in the semester. We didn’t grade out very well in the test so what are we going to do to get a better grade.

“I think that’s what we really have to learn and grow from and make a commitment to. I think our player with the kind of character and attitude that we’ve kind of shown as a team that we’ll respond the right way and I think the coaches will do the same.”

Tony’s take: Saban is never going to say he doesn’t believe in his players. However, the head coach did seem genuine when expressing confidence in how his team would respond to the loss. Time will tell whether or not Alabama can redevelop itself as a contender this season. In order to do that, the Crimson Tide will need to put last weekend in the past and keep taking steps toward improvement.

On South Florida

“South Florida is, has a first-year head coach and they’re moving the ball and scoring points. It’s not about necessarily always who we play. It’s how we technically and execute against the team that we play so that we have a chance to be successful.

“It’s a road game. It’s our first road game. They’ve got some good players. They’ve got a pretty good quarterback. They play hard on defense. So, everyone’s capable. It’s about you playing to you standard, us playing to our standard and trying to play the kind of football that we need to play so that we have a chance to be more successful on a more consistent basis.”

Tony’s take: Like Alabama, South Florida enters this weekend’s matchup with a 1-1 record. The Bulls suffered a 41-24 defeat to Western Kentucky in their opener before beating Florida A&M 38-24 over the weekend. This won’t be much of a challenge for Alabama, but it will still be interesting to see how the Tide responds from the loss.

On Alabama’s issues with Texas’ pass rush

“Well, I think we gave up one sack on a pressure. Most of it was, we gave up a sack on a three-man rush. We gave up several sacks on four-man rushes. I think we were too soft-setting in the line. We’ve got to be firmer in protection. The pocket can’t collapse, but people have to get open. The quarterback has to process quickly and get the ball out of his hand. We can’t hold the ball. It’s a combination of all those things, I think that its - well it’s a problem but it wasn’t like there was some scheme that they were running that we didn’t have picked up. We just didn’t get it blocked like we need to.

Tony’s take: After film review, Saban’s assessment of the offensive line isn’t much better. Even when Texas wasn’t blitzing, the Longhorns bullied the Crimson Tide’s front, causing the pocket to collage. There’s a lot of things that need to be fixed fast if Alabama is going to keep Jalen Milroe and its season alive.

On Alabama’s offensive identity against Texas

“I don’t know that in this past game that we had much of an identity. I think we started out early in the game being able to run the ball effectively and we did not mix up the play action pass to compliment the running game and eventually it got harder and harder to run the ball. We did make some explosive plays on offense but it’s too hit-or-miss. You’ve got to have consistency to sustain drives. That’s the one thing that we didn’t do.

“We made explosive plays but we weren’t consistent enough in terms of developing identity, to use your term. But the identity that we’d like to have is to be physical enough to be able to run the ball consistently and effectively but also be able to have a good play-action game to go with it, be able to drop back when we need to, be efficient and effective in all those areas and I can’t say that we were in this game, other than making some explosive plays, we didn’t do that well enough.”

Tony’s take: Saban is right. Other than revert back to its ways of shooting itself in the foot, Alabama didn’t show much of an identity against Texas. The Tide averaged just 3.1 yards per game on the ground while also failing to move the ball consistently through the air.

Alabama would like to get back to playing “joyless murderball” by playing physical running the ball down its opponents throats. After Texas, it seems like the Tide is a long way off from being ready to do that.

On Alabama's pass rush through two weeks

"I think it was okay in the first game, of course it was a different level of competition. And I think that obviously we didn't get any sacks (against Texas). We didn't have a lot of success, the kind of success that we'd like to have on third down and I think that's something that we need to improve. We didn't do a great job of covering them. Sometimes you get coverage sacks, so we didn't cover them long enough that the quarterback couldn't get the ball out of his hand quickly. We didn't affect the quarterback in the game and we all need to improve on that."

Tony’s takes: It was hard to judge Alabama’s pass rush against Middle Tennessee as the Blue Raiders got rid of the ball before the Tide could provide much pressure.

Against Texas, Alabama’s pass rusher looked toothless, failing to get to quarterback Quinn Ewers even once while allowing him to make several plays deep. Alabama has enough talent in its front seven and its secondary to affect opposing quarterbacks. However, defenders will need to begin playing up to their potential.

On two-for-one game scheduling

"Well I think the goal when you try and play home and home games is to try to enhance the quality of opponents that you have. So you just can't go out and say 'Hey, let's play a game' and everybody agrees to it. You got to negotiate your way through to see who you can play and who can't play.

“It's been our goal, now this was before conference realignment so that may have some impact on future, was we want to since we're not going to play a neutral site game, can we get two quality opponents to be able to play in every season besides the SEC games So we have 10 games that — and look it's not easy to find people that will play you and sometimes you have to give and take a little bit to try to get those games to where we have a quality home schedule and we are planning two teams that are Division-I caliber, decent teams to play. Scheduling is very difficult, we've tried to get it where we're playing two (quality) teams and I think most years we are."

Tony’s take: Alabama might recruit well in South Florida, but it’s safe to say no one is super excited about playing a road game against an American Athletic Conference opponent this week. The trip to South Florida was a scheduling necessity when it was planned as the Bulls will travel to Tuscaloosa in 2024 and 2026.

On the team's energy entering the Texas game

"I think the energy level was good. I think we started out the game really good. Did we sustain it for 60 minutes in the game? No. Did we play well in the fourth quarter? No. But it's not much about how you start, we started out I felt really well in the game: good energy, physical, ran the ball effectively in the beginning of the game; but our ability to sustain was not where it needs to be and we didn't play well enough in the fourth quarter."

Tony’s take: In the past, Alabama has been able to attribute its some of its poor performances to a lack of energy or overlooking an opponent. That was the case last week. The Crimson Tide was geared up to face the Longhorns. It just got flat-out beaten by a better team.

On Jalen Milroe's confidence

"I think it's important in all positions, but one thing you don't want to do is get frustrated as a player. You don't want one play to affect the next play and to stay positive. But you can say stay positive but we all have self talk right? You got to believe it. You can't just say 'Okay, I'm gonna do this' but don't believe you can do it. You got to believe and trust in yourself, too. So I think the players stayed positive. They tried to keep the energy level up. They didn't get frustrated in the game and Jalen didn't either. But still, you got to trust and have faith and confidence in doing what you're coached to do on a consistent basis and that's going to help you be successful."

Tony’s take: Perhaps the most positive sign from Milroe over the weekend was how he handled his poor showing in the defeat. Following the game, the quarterback elected to speak to reporters. Instead of pouting, he focused on improvement and what he needed to do to have more success in the future.

That’s exactly the mentality Saban wants to see from his quarterback. Milroe’s mindset was good enough to earn him the starting job this offseason, now we’ll see if its strong enough to get him through some early adversity.

On the mindset of the team

“I haven’t talked to the team since after the game — I’ll see them today when we watch the film. I would be shocked if this team doesn’t respond in a really positive way — to try and get better, to try and do the things they need to do to get fixed. But we have to have better execution. We gotta do simple things better — whether it’s pass protection, blocking, controlling the line of scrimmage, not giving up big plays on defense. Those are the things that are gonna change.

“This is not just about [the] attitude of players. They all wanted to win more than any fan, more than anybody in this room — and they put all the work and preparation into it. I feel badly for them that we weren’t able to do whatever we need to do as coaches to try to help them have a better chance to be successful in the game. And we’re all responsible for it and we’re all going to try to work hard to get better.

“So, I would be shocked if these guys don’t come in here today with the attitude that we’re going to go out there and try to improve and get better. And the future is now. We’ve got to do it now — that’s the main thing.”

Tony’s take: As I said earlier, Saban isn’t going to say he doesn’t believe in his players. However, he seems confident in the personalities he has in the locker room. Following the press conference, starting left guard Tyler Booker backed up his head coach’s expectation, stating that the team was “pissed off” and motivated moving forward.

On what he’s seen from Tyler Bucher

“Well he played really well in the last scrimmage and he’s done well in practice. So, we feel really good about sort of how he’s continued to improve and develop and the confidence in what he’s doing. And [having] a good feeling around the teammates and receivers and all that type of thing.”

Tony’s take: Before anyone jumps to conclusions, it’s important to acknowledge that Saban was asked directly about Buchner. He’s didn’t say anything unexpected either. While it’s encouraging to hear that Buchner is progressing, I stil think Milroe is very much the starter at the moment.

On if he considered making changes on the offensive line against Texas

“Not really. We have confidence in the guys that are playing and sure, they need to play better — but if we thought someone was more ready to play, we want the competition, we want guys to improve, to compete for playing time but we also want them to be able to take advantage of the opportunity when they get it. So, they’ve got to prepare themselves properly to be able to do that and we’re going to keep working with as many guys as we can to get them to be able to play winning football.”

Tony’s take: During camp, Saban said he felt like he had six or seven starters on the offensive line. However, despite Alabama’s struggles against Texas, he didn’t elect to shuffle things up at the front.

For now, I expect Alabama to keep the same starting five. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a couple linemen on a short leash over the next couple of weeks.

On the tight ends and receivers

“Well we only had one dropped ball — one thing that you could consider being a dropped ball in the last game. That part of it was pretty decent in the last game. I don't think we always got the ball to guys at times and I think there were times when we didn’t do a good enough job of getting open so that we had options. [...] I’m not disappointed in our receivers — I think our receivers can make explosive plays.

“Everyone’s got to be more consistent so we can develop a timing in the passing game between the protection, the receivers and the quarterback so that we can be more consistent in what we’re doing and eliminate some of the negative plays.”

Tony’s take: Receivers weren’t the problem against Texas. If anything they helped out Milroe throughout the night. That’s an encouraging sign moving forward if Alabama can get more consistent play from both its offensive line and the quarterback position.