Nick Saban kept things short in sweet Wednesday in his final press conference before Saturday’s Iron Bowl matchup against Auburn. Here’s a transcript of what he said as well as my takes on his comments.
Opening statement
“How we doing guys? So, first off, let me just take a second to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving. I know this is a great time of the year to have gratitude and give thanks for all the things that we have. I know we all spend a lot of time thinking about the things that we want and maybe not appreciating the things that we have — relationships and all the other things in the world that we work hard to try to accomplish. Hopefully everybody has an opportunity to do that and has an enjoyable and Happy Thanksgiving.
“This is a very special competitive situation, the Iron Bowl. Auburn has a very good team. I know in rivalry games, things are always going to be very, very competitive. I don’t think records or any of that stuff really matters when it comes to what happens in this game.
“For our players, it’s, what do you choose to pay attention to? There are a lot of things out there, in rivalry games, that can get your attention, but we have a plan, and everybody has to know the plan, whether it’s offense, defense, special teams, or whatever. We have a process that we’ve been working on to execute that plan for a long time, all season long, so hopefully we focus on the process of what we have to do to execute it.
“Then we have to have a sense of purpose for, why is it important, you know, to be able to have an opportunity to be successful in that game so that we can stay focused on the right stuff. That’s my message to the guys and that’s what I’d like for them to stay focused on, because at the end of the day, it’s going to be what happens on the field.
“I think it’s always been in this game — people talk about all the things that have happened, but basically, in my experience, the team that plays the best is the team that has the best chance to be successful, and that’s the way it’s always worked out in the past.
Tony’s take: This is the second time this week Saban has downplayed the craziness Alabama tends to run up against when it plays inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. If Alabama takes care of business and executes to its abilities, no amount of voodoo should be able to stop the Tide from rolling over the Tigers.
Injury update on Deontae Lawson and Jaylen Key
“Yeah, they both practiced quite a bit this week. We’ll just see how they continue to progress.”
Tony’s take: It’s Iron Bowl week, and Saban isn’t going to divulge too much injury information. However, all signs point to Lawson (ankle) and Key (thigh) being available Saturday.
On coaching against Hugh Freeze
"He's, to me, one of the best offensive coaches in the country in terms of taking the personnel and the players he has and doing what he needs to do to help them be successful. They present a lot of multiples that give you problems to try and stay gap sound against the run and they've done a good job all year with it. So our players are going to have to be zeroed in on making the adjustments that we need to make and I'm sure we'll probably see something different in the game than what we practiced, so I think Hugh's one of the best, most difficult preparations that we have when we play against his offenses."
Tony’s take: Auburn’s offense is one-dimensional due to the lack of talent the Tigers have behind center. However, Freeze has done a decent job with the weapons he has, putting together a rushing attack that ranks third in the SEC averaging 194.27 yards per game on the ground.
I’m sure Freeze has some tricks up his sleeve for Saturday’s Iron Bowl as Auburn will be entering the game with nothing to lose. The Crimson Tide will need to be prepared for anything.
On stopping Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter
"It's a little bit of what I just said about staying in the right places and adjusting correctly to the formations and motions and adjustments and unbalanced and all that kind of stuff. But this guy runs hard, he's physical, he's hard to tackle. Good tackling is really important in playing good defense anytime so being gap sound, everybody doing their job and playing disciplined, responsibility football and doing a good job of tackling. But (also) getting more than one guy to the ball so we can clean up the tackles and not let this guy get yards after contact."
Tony’s take: If Auburn is going to upset Alabama, Jarquez Hunter is likely going to have a say in it. The junior back is averaging 5.8 yards per carry while running for 772 yards and seven touchdowns over 10 games this season.
He had just 27 yards on eight carries during last week’s loss to New Mexico State but eclipsed the century mark in four previous games, piling up 527 yards and four touchdowns on 67 carries over that span.
As Saban pointed out, Hunter is hard to bring down. According to Pro Football Focus, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound back is averaging 4.08 yards after contact this season. Alabama also has first-hand experience in how deadly he can be after he ran for 134 yards on 11 carries during last year’s Iron Bowl.
On the team's Thanksgiving itinerary
"We move everything up an hour tomorrow o that the players have that live in a two hour radius, we'll be done at 4:30ish, and they got a chance to go home and have Thanksgiving with their family (and) take other players if they want. The coaches, including Miss Terry and I have players who don't have a place to go, we have them over to our house. So I think we'll have about 15 players to our house to join our family for Thanksgiving.
"Then we come back and usually do one real after practice on Thursday, we don't do that till Friday when players come back and then we have a Thanksgiving dinner for all the families, players and coaches alike on Friday; I think around noon and then at one o'clock we start the process of meetings and walkthroughs and things that we would normally have on Friday and get ready to travel and get ready to roll. So that's kind of the adjustments that we make relative to Thanksgiving."
Tony’s take: Alabama’s Thanksgiving plans are nothing new. The team has always let players from nearby go home, while Saban and his wife Terry have hosted players who don’t have anywhere to go. Saban’s always pretty good about the holidays and letting players see their families when possible.
