KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Following Alabama’s 52-49 loss to Tennessee on Saturday, Nick Saban spoke to the media, stating his team has “a lot of work to be done” to respond from its first defeat of the season. Here’s a transcript of what the head coach had to say as well as my take on what it means.
Opening statement
“I’ll kind of tell you what I told the team. Very disappointing loss. We didn’t answer the bell today. Obviously, there’s a lot of work to be done. Way too many penalties, did too many things to help them, gave up explosive plays, had a major error on special teams that was totally unnecessary that led to a score on their part. You’ve gotta give them a lot of credit. They did a nice job with their offense based on what we were trying to do on defense.
“But we didn’t execute well enough. You’ve gotta give our players a lot of credit for fighting back, getting back in the game after getting behind 21-7 and having an opportunity to win at the end. I wish we could do some things a little different in the end, play a little better. Played way too soft at the end to let them go down the field 50 yards and get in field goal range. I think that the big thing that our players need to do is learn from this experience, have more respect for playing with discipline so we don’t get penalties, we don’t help the other team, we don’t make mental errors that help the other team.
“But I also told the players that we can accomplish every goal that we’ve had starting at the beginning of the season. There’s no room for error in the West. If we win out in the West, we can win the West and still have a chance go to the SEC Championship Game. But I think the key to the drill is you’ve gotta learn from these experiences. You’ve gotta learn from mistakes that you made. You never improve if you can’t learn from the mistakes that you made. And obviously, we have a lot of work to do. I hope everybody is all in on trying to do that work so we can improve and play better.
“I thought Bryce played really well in the game, made a lot of plays offensively. Just didn’t get going on defense when we had the chance. On the last drive when they tied the game, got a third-down penalty, got a fourth-down penalty that led to their score to tie the game. And had an opportunity, needed to get a little closer for the field goal kick, and we didn’t get that done.”
Tony’s take: This time, Alabama had to pay for its mistakes. The Crimson Tide has had double-digit penalties in each of its three road games this season. It was able to survive sloppy play against Texas (15 penalties for 100 yards) and Arkansas (10 penalties for 101 yards). However, a school-worst 17 penalties for 130 yards was just too much to overcome. If Alabama wants to save its season, it will need to start learning from these mistakes. Perhaps this is finally the wake-up call it needed.
Saban seems rightfully annoyed at Alabama’s defensive effort, even going as far as to call it “soft” on the games final drive. Whether that’s a message to defensive coordinator Pete Golding, his players, or both, it’s worth noting.
On Alabama’s strategy on its final drive
“We were trying to move closer. We thought that they were blitzing and had a loaded box a lot and thought we could make plays with the passing game. Jahmyr had a chance to make a play. That’s the best things we did all night, so that’s how we thought we could get closer. When I say that, I don’t mean we should have ran it instead of pass it. I didn’t mean that at all. They were blitzing and we were in empty, so we’ve gotta throw the ball hot, and we didn’t do it exactly right.”
Tony’s take: During its final possession, Alabama drove the ball down to the Tennessee 32-yard line before attempting three straight incomplete passes to set up Will Reichard’s 50-yard missed field goal. Tennessee had much more success stopping Alabama on the ground than it did through the air, so Saban was hoping his offense could connect on one more big play to set up an easier score. In the end, that’s likely all it would have taken to pull out the win.
On Tennessee’s tempo
“I don’t think the no-huddle offense was the issue for us. I think it was covering their receivers and allowing way too many big plays. They created a lot of mismatches. We were trying to play nickel, so they were trying to get their best receivers on the safeties, and they hit a couple times and we gave up big plays. We started dropping eight guys, that helped us in the second quarter. We did the same thing in the third quarter and played some dime so we’d have some better matchups against them. So we made some good adjustments in the game, but we just gave up too many big plays. Even in the second half, they scored on big plays.”
Tony’s take: Tennessee’s fast-paced offense limited Alabama’s ability to rush the passer and allowed the Volunteers to create the mismatches they wanted throughout the game. However, in the end, it came down to execution. Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt flat-out beat Alabama’s defensive backs, hauling in six receptions for 207 yards and five touchdowns. The only thing slowing him down for most of the game was the length of the field.
On what he wants to see changed to achieve consistency
“I think you can’t have consistency unless you have discipline and execution, and I mentioned that earlier. So it’s not just penalties. It’s just did I block the right guy? Did I do it the right way? Did I cover the right guy? Did I cover the right way? Did I rush the passer the right way? Did we run the stunts, stop the run, stay in my gap? All those things are little things that you have to pay attention to detail on so that you play together as a unit. And we’ll watch the film but obviously, when you give up (52) points, there’s things we need to do much, much better on defense, and we need to be able to take advantage of the situation we had on offense at the end of the game – although the offense did a really good job of moving the ball, keeping the ball and scoring points.”
Tony’s take: This comes back to Saban’s message in the opening statement. Eventually, Alabama is going to have to start learning from its mistakes. If it does, this game could end up being the wake-up call Alabama needed to take the next step in its pursuit of a national title. If it doesn’t the Crimson Tide might not be playing in a meaningful game after November.
On Tennessee's crowd noise
“I thought the offense handled the crowd noise extremely well. We were able to go on the clap, and the motion penalties that we had, a couple of them had nothing to do – a guy with no clap, no nothing. I don’t know why. But I thought we handled the noise extremely well in the game. They had a great crowd, the crowd did a great job in the game and we changed the momentum in the game several times. We just weren’t able to take advantage of it by getting enough stops on defense.”
Tony’s take: Crowd noise really only plays a part when the visiting team has the ball. Alabama piled up 569 yards of offense and 49 points, so it really wasn’t too much of an issue other than providing an adrenaline boost to the Volunteers.
On the pass-interference call that negated Kool-Aid McKinstry’s interception
“I can’t really comment on it. It’s hard to see when it’s down in the corner. I thought the guy made a good swat on the ball and we intercepted a tipped ball. And we had another one on 3rd and 6, the guy had coverage on the guy. I think pass interference is one of the most controversial calls in college football right now, and I’ve talked about it before but just inconsistency in how it gets called. Not just on those calls but on all calls. Officials do the best they can. I’m not making any negative comments about what they called.”
Tony’s take: Looking back at this call, it’s a really tough break for Alabama. I’m not usually one to criticize the referee’s as I think they generally do a way better job than fans give them credit for. However, this looks like a missed call. Unfortunately for Alabama, it was a costly one, too. Had McKinstry’s interception stood, the Crimson Tide would have likely at least gone up by 10 points with less than three minutes to play.
On Bryce Young
“I had total trust and confidence that he had practiced enough that he wasn’t gonna forget how to play quarterback. And he didn’t. So even though he wasn’t able to practice, especially throwing the ball as much in the passing game, getting him healthy so he could go out there and throw it effectively was probably the most important thing. I think the way our medical staff managed that gave him the best opportunity to do it, and obviously came through and played really well today.”
Tony’s take: Bryce Young had one of his best games in an Alabama uniform, coming back from injury to complete 35 of 52 passes for 455 yards and two touchdowns. Had the Crimson Tide helped him out a bit more, this could have been his Heisman moment. On the plus side, his shoulder looks fine moving forward, and Alabama still has everything to play for this season.
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