TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ā Rested up from its open week, No. 8 Alabama will now turn its attention to No. 13 LSU as it will host the Tigers on Saturday at 6:45 p.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Monday, Nick Saban started the week by speaking to reporters about the matchup.
Hereās a transcript of what he said as well as my takes on his comments.
Opening statement
"I think bye weeks in this point of the season are beneficial I think in a lot of ways to our team that was very beneficial. I think we got lots of guys that were banged up some rest and limited reps so that they could heal up and of course we won't know how well that happens until we see how they respond this week. And we got a lot of good repetitions on future opponents as well as LSU in the bye week so that should enhance our preparation for this game.
āI told the players when they left Thursday after practice that I wanted them enjoy their time off but I also wanted them to be focused and ready to go all in when we get back because LSU is really, really good team. They're probably one of the best teams in the country right now, I know that one they are the best team in the country on offense. We're going to need an excellent attention to detail, focus and good technical preparation in the game so that everybody plays responsibility football whether it's offense, defense or special teams. I think this has developed in to sort of a rivalry game because they're always ranked, we're always ranked and it's always a big game relative to what happens in our division; so it's an important game for both teams. I think Brian Kelly has done a phenomenal job bringing this team along, the improvement that they made, the kind of team they had a year ago as well as an even a better team that they have this year in terms of what they've been able to accomplish and what they've been able to do; and I think it starts with their offense.
āThey're the number one offensive team in the country and it starts with the quarterback, Jayden Daniels. I mean this guy is a phenomenal player. He's a dual-threat player, he's great passer and makes lots of plays with his feet. Fast, not only can scramble to run but can scramble to throw. They've got a really good running back in Logan Diggs, they got a good tight end and Mason Taylor.. (Malik Nabers) and and Brian Thomas Jr. are really really good receivers, but they have also other good skill guys to go with them. Their offensive line is big and physical and they're able to create great balance on offense. So it's going to be very challenging for us to be able to play the kind of discipline football that you need to be able to play and not make mistakes, tackle well in the game and be physical and try to win on the line scrimmage which is going to be challenging.
Defensively they good players, a good front seven. They're big, they're physical and they play well together as a team. I think that sometimes they've had some struggles in the secondary, some guys injured and different things like that but they also make a lot of big plays. They can rush, they affect the quarterback and they can cover so this is going to be a challenge game for us from that standpoint, too. And these guys have a lot of good athletes and a lot really good team speed so that makes them really good on special teams. They have good specialists. So this is a really, really good team in all ways."
Tonyās take: Weāll find out later this week how well Alabama players handled the open week, but it should serve as a nice breather before one of the teamās toughest matchups of the year.
LSU leads the nation in both scoring offense (47.4 points per game) and total offense (552.9 yards per game). The Tigers feature a balanced attack that ranks third in passing (339.9 ypg) and 14th in rushing (213.0 ypg).
As Saban said, that all starts with quarterback Jayden Daniels. Through eight games, the Hesiman Trophy candidate has completed 73.1% of his passes for 2,573 yards and 25 touchdowns with three interceptions. Heās also piled up 521 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
Alabama should be able to move the ball against an LSU defense that is allowing 26.5 points and 395 yards per game. However, the Crimson Tide will need to be on its A game for what could turn into a shootout Saturday.
On how Jayden Daniels has improved since last year
"Well he killed us last year so the guy was really, really good player last year, he's a really, really good player now. I think overall they execute their offense to perfection and it starts with him because he makes the right reads relative to runs and passes and zone option plays and pass down plays. He's very good at reading coverages, makes really quick decisions. All those things were evident last year by the way he played and I think he's probably even better now because he has even more experience and knowledge in the offense and they've got really good players around him.
Tonyās take: During last yearās win over Alabama, Daniels completed 22 of 32 passes (68.8%) for 182 yards and two touchdowns while carrying the ball 18 times for 95 yards and another score on the ground. Those are good numbers, but his deadliness came in his ability to deliver big plays.
He had four passes for 15 yards or more, including a 30-yard touchdown to John Emery Jr. to put the Tigers on the board first in the second quarter. Then there was his two scrambles in the second half. Daniels had a 31-yard run on third-and-5 from his own 30-yard line late in the fourth quarter. He also scored from 25 yards out during LSUās first play in overtime, setting up the game-winning two-point conversion a play later.
Thereās a good chance Daniels will be the best player Alabama will face all season. How the Crimson Tide contains him will likely determine the outcome of Saturdayās game.
On stopping Daniels in QB draws and other runs
He made a couple plays on quarterback draws but some of them weren't designed quarterback roles, two of his long runs in the game in critical situations came on busts up front in terms of gap control and he just saw it and took off running. So it looked like a quarterback draw but I don't really think it was a design quarterback draw.
They do have design quarterback draws, it was a zone option play that he scored on us in overtime (last year) ā 25 yard run. Another mistake that we made in run support, didn't adjust to the motion so those are the kinds of things that you cannot afford to make those kinds of mistakes. When you're playing against a quarterback like this who basically is a great passer but also have triple option type plays in the running game to get him on the perimeter, so athletic so you got to have the right guys trying to get him on the ground."
Tonyās take: Alabama has faced several dual-threat quarterbacks this season, but none are as slippery as Daniels. According to Pro Football Focus, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound speedster has forced 28 missed tackles this season.Alabama will need to be disciplined in how it spies on him and make sure to wrap up once its defenders get a hand on him.
On the progress of WR Kendrick Law
āK-Law is really a great competitor, really tough, physical guy. He is a little different than some of our other receivers, so he does have a role to play and does a really good job of that. He's a great special teams player. Really good team guy, hard worker. So I think weāll try to always have roles for him to play in the game that benefit his skillset and complement the other guys that weāve got.ā
Tonyās take: Kendrick Law picked up 34 yards on a jet-sweep touch pass against Tennesee last week. We havenāt seen much of that from Alabama this season, but it could be a new wrinkle first-year offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is adding to the offense.
Law, 5-foot-11, 201 pounds, offers a nice blend of speed and power with the ball in his hands. Getting him the ball in open space or on end-arounds could open up a few more doors for Alabamaās attack.
On LSU RB Logan Diggs
āThis guy is a really good back. Heās big, strong, powerfulā really powerful lower body. Breaks tackles. Good one-cut runner. Makes you miss. But this guy makes a tremendous amount of yards after contact, and he is physical.ā
Tonyās take: While Daniels leads the way, heās hardly the only dangerous weapon in LSUās offense. One underrated member of the Tigersā attack is Notre Dame transfer Logan Diggs, who leads the team with 611 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound back is averaging 5.82 yards per carry, and is picking up 3.04 yards per attempt after contact, according to PFF.
Rees is familiar with Diggs after coaching him the past two seasons at Notre Dame. Perhaps he can help defensive coordinator Kevin Steele when it comes to figuring out a game plan to bring down the bruising back.
On aggressiveness vs. discipline for pass rushers against a mobile quarterback
āI think we want our guys to play aggressive. I don't think you want guys getting pushed by the pocket. You donāt want guys to lose contain on the guy. So thereās a fine line between that. If you get pushed from the pocket, weāre playing with 10 guys now. If you lose contain and he gets outside, you put everybody in harm's way that's trying to sort of plaster their coverage and stay with the guys they gotta guard. Plus, he can take off and run. So I guess there's a fine line between that. Weāve never ever told guys to rush in their pass lanes, but be cautious. Never, ever even thought of that. Weāre not coaching that.ā
Tonyās take: Thereās a difference between playing smart and playing scared. Saban doesnāt want his pass rushers to be hesitant when pursuing Daniels in the pocket. On the same hand, players canāt get so caught up in bringing him down that they lose track of their roles on the field. In other words, Saban is looking for full speed and full focus on every play.
On what he wants for his birthday
āThe game's the most important thing. That would be an outstanding birthday present if we could play well in this game. So that's what I'm focused on and that's what we're really trying to do. When your birthday and holidays come up during the football season, they're really not holidays and they're really not birthdays. You get older, but you don't really celebrate much.ā
Tonyās take: Are you surprised by this answer? You shouldnāt be. Saban makes $11.4 million a year, has a garage full of exotic sports cars and owns multiple multimillion-dollar homes. Birthday gifts stopped mattering a long time ago.
On challenges of stopping LSUās deep-ball
I think there's lots of challenges. You've got to read run-pass and they've got a good play-action plan. They'll seven-man protect and throw vertical routes. They've probably made more explosive plays running and passing than any team we've played in recent times.
You've got to guard them. You've got to keep them cut off, and you've got to be disciplined in your eye control so that you have the best opportunity to do that. Play zone, play man, play pattern match sometimes. Try to mix it up. And that's the key to the drill. If you let guys get behind you, you don't get people cut off, you're probably going to give up big plays because they've got a good thrower and guys that can go up and get the ball.
Tonyās take: Danielsā is the highest-rated deep-ball passer in the nation, earning a 99.9 grade from Pro Football on passes that traveled 20 or more yards past the line of scrimmage. Through eight games, he has completed 21 of 35 such throws for 938 yards and 15 touchdowns.
That being said, he hasnāt faced a coverage unit quite as talented as the one heāll see this week. According to PFF, Alabama leads the nation with a 93.0 coverage grade this season.
On Alabama LT Kadyn Proctor
Kadyn Proctor's getting better and I think he's gaining experience and learning. What we want him to do is not worry so much about making a mistake that he's not playing aggressively, and that's what we've been working on with him. I think he's getting better and he's getting more confident, I thought he played fairly well. He had a play or two that I'm sure he'd tell you and I'd tell you and his coach would tell you, that we didn't execute exactly correctly. But those plays are getting fewer and fewer and the good plays are getting greater and greater.
Tonyās take: Kadyn Proctorās struggles are well-documented this season. According to PFF, the freshman left tackle has surrendered a team-high nine sacks, including five in his last three games.
Weāll see if the week off allowed Proctor to gather himself. After going up against three straight top-30 pass-rushing units, he should welcome a game against an LSU defense that has generated just 14 sacks over eight games, could help his
On why Alabama-LSU creates good matchups
āBecause they have really good players. They're very competitive. They've always been well coached. This game has always had significance in the consequence of your season. So the first thing you've got to do is win your division. And that's what we're really trying to focus on. And you've got to get yourself ready to take care of business against really, really good players to be able to do that.
āI think both of these teams have been ranked since 2007 or something, in the Top 20. I don't know how many of the games we've played with them in the last 15 years or whatever that don't have some consequence to what kind of season you have.ā
Tonyās take: It all starts with recruiting. Alabama and LSU routinely bring in some of the nationās top talent. Naturally, that leads to some classic matchups. The matchup has been particularly close in recent years as three of the last four games have been decided by a touchdown or less.
On the marker of a productive open week
I think that you want your players ā as I alluded to before ā to enjoy their time off. But you also want them to be focused and ready to go when they come back. There's a balance in all that. You can't dissipate and go not eat right and (not) do the right things while you're off. You can still enjoy yourself but you also can stay focused on what you need to do when you come back. I think that's a combination and balance in all that. Balance in life is important in about everything that you do. So that kind of balance can create very positive results for you when you come back and you're ready to go. If you didn't think about your job, what your responsibility is, one minute for three days, you're probably not going to benefit very much from the time you had off.
Tonyās take: As I stated before, weāll find out later this week how well Alabama handled the open week. After talking to players Monday, they seem pretty zoned in for this weekās matchup, so thatās a good sign for the Crimson Tide.
