Football 🏈 Tony's takes: Breaking down what Saban said after Alabama's win over LSU

[Tony_Tsoukalas]

Following its 42-28 win over No. 14 LSU on Saturday, No. 8 Alabama is just one SEC win away from clinching a spot in the conference championship game. After the game, Nick Saban called the victory his team’s most complete performance of the year. Here’s everything the head coach said as well as my reaction to his comments.

Opening statement

“This was a great team win, and we knew that it would be a tough game. They’ve got a great offensive team, obviously a great quarterback who’s really hard to contain. But I think our offense did a fantastic job in this game. I’m so proud of our team. It’s a great team win, but our offense controlled the tempo of the game, especially in the second half, and I think that was the difference in the game – having over 500 yards of offense, but the key to it was being 11-of-14 on third down and being able to keep the ball, which kept it away from them, which was a real key.

“But this is probably as close to a complete game, even though you say, ‘Wow, they had some really good plays.’ Yeah, they did. They’ve got some really good players. But our guys fought. They competed. I’m really proud of them. Probably as close to a complete game as we played all year, and we needed to play a game like that. But the whole idea going into the game was just keep playing the next play, just focus on the next play, be in the moment and I thought they did a wonderful job of that. Even when we got ahead by 14 points, we controlled, took seven minutes off the clock, got back out on defense and got them stopped.

“Really great win for us, and this team has created an opportunity where now they’ve got to make a choice. We’ve had two big games in a row here and still got two SEC games left and another game. So you’re going to make the choice about taking care of business or continue to take care of business in the future because we create an opportunity for ourself and maybe win the West and maybe get in the SEC Championship Game and who knows what happens from there.”

Tony’s take: Alabama is beginning to look like a legit national title contender. We’ve seen the Crimson Tide survive a defensive slugfest. Now we know it can come out on top in a shootout as well.

Alabama showed it has the firepower to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the nation. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if the Tide can build on this momentum and continue to perform to the same standard for the remainder of the year. There’s a possibility for a few letdowns with winnable games against Kentucky, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Auburn coming up. Saban won’t want to see his team take its foot off of the gas during those matchups.

On what worked in the running game

“The offensive line did a fantastic job. They got really good movement. The backs really pressed the holes and did a really good job. I think we had a really good plan to run the ball and get the ball on the perimeter some – some with Jalen, some with some other guys – and the combination of those things, I think, helps your inside running game, as well. But it all came down to execution, and I thought this was the best execution we had from an efficiency standpoint in the run game all year.”

Tony’s take: Alabama was up against a below-average LSU defense, but the Crimson Tide would have been rolling against anyone the way it was running the ball.

Alabama averaged 6.3 yards per carry against the Tigers, piling up 288 yards and six touchdowns on the night. The majority of that production came from Jalen Milroe, who finished with 155 yards and four scores on 20 carries. The quarterback’s dual-threat ability forced LSU to spread out its defense and opened up opportunities for his teammates.

All three Crimson Tide running backs used on the night averaged more than 4 yards a carry. Jase McClellan led the unit with 63 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries while Roydell Williams had 56 yards and a score on just six attempts. Jam Miller rounded out the rushing attack with 17 yards on four runs.

Of course, Alabama’s ground game would not have been possible without the play of its offensive line. The unit put together its best performance of the season, providing a nice push all night. That was key in Alabama’s success on third downs.

On how much credit Saban gives himself

“I think the credit goes to the coaching staff and the players. This group of guys has shown tremendous resiliency to keep working to improve. I think they trust the coaches. They respect what we’re trying to do to help them be better players, and it’s resulted in a team that has consistently improved throughout the year. And we’ve just got to try to keep doing that. We got a lot of guys nicked up today, but hopefully, it’ll be an opportunity for somebody else to step up.”

Tony’s take: Who would have thought Alabama would be where it is now following some of its early-season struggles? The Crimson Tide looks like a different team than it did a couple of months ago. We’ll see if Saban and his staff are recognized with any awards at the end of the season, but they certainly deserve some praise for their ability to turn things around this year.

Injury updates on Deontae Lawson and Jaylen Key

“One guy has an ankle. One guy’s got a quad. I don’t know how bad the injuries are until they do MRIs and all that kind of stuff. So I can’t tell you more than that.”

Tony’s take: Key suffered his injury in the first quarter. After grabbing his left quad on the ground, he limped to the team’s injury tent before leaving toward the locker room. He was eventually seen in street clothes on the sideline.

Lawson’s injury came in the second half as he twisted his ankle while getting juked out by LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels. The linebacker was able to return to the game briefly but later left for the locker room and returned to the sideline with a boot on his left foot.

Alabama can probably get by without both players next week as it travels to Kentucky, but the two starters will be missed if they are sidelined for an extended period.

On Jalen Milroe’s runs

“Some of the pass plays, we did run one quarterback draw – some of them are just getting him to step up in the pocket, and if it opens up, he has the option to run or throw. And we do have some quarterback runs on the perimeter that he did a nice job of executing and we did a nice job of blocking on the perimeter, so it’s a combination of both.

But I think the fact that we do that, just like if you look at it from the other perspective because their quarterback is such a good runner on the perimeter, we’re playing stuff to try to make sure we’ve got enough guys to take care of him, and they hit a post on us and we bust in the back end worrying about him running the ball the first touchdown that they scored. It creates some issues for you on defense, and hopefully, we can keep building on that.”

Tony’s take: I’ll have to go back and rewatch the game, but it seemed like at least a few of Milroe’s runs were designed. Either way, the quarterback did an excellent job of reading the defense and using his elite speed to pick up big chunks of yardage on the ground.

In the past, Milroe has appeared somewhat hesitant to run, trying instead to make plays with his arm. Saturday, he did a great job of taking what the defense gave him.

On the message in the third quarter to get stops

“I think that when you’re playing a game like this, you got to encourage the defensive players to keep playing. And I think the thing that got us when he ran for 160-something yards and most of those were on pass plays, it wasn’t like they were designed to quarterback runs. We had spies on him; spy couldn’t get them on the ground. We rushed four guys. So the best success we had was actually rushing five, kept him in the pocket, pressed him up a little bit.

But we told them in halftime, we got to be a little more aggressive. We’re gonna have to play man-to-man. We’re gonna have to push the pocket on the guy and we did a pretty good job with that. And of course, Dallas getting the tipped ball and getting the interception was huge in the game, and that’s how you got to play it. But the last four times they had the ball, we got stops on defense, which was, huge when the score was 28-28. But the offense did a great job of controlling and so they didn’t get it back very much.”

Tony’s take: LSU’s offense was rolling midway through the game as Daniels led the Tigers on three straight touchdown drives. However, Alabama’s defense finally forced a punt with 4:25 remaining in the third quarter.

From there, the Crimson Tide intercepted Daniels on his next possession before knocking him out of the game while forcing a punt the drive after that. Alabama then forced a turnover on downs to close out the game.

The Tide has allowed just 7 second-half points over its past two games against LSU and Tennessee. That says a lot about the job Kevin Steele is doing as the defensive coordinator.

On Jalen Milroe’s growth

“It’s obvious that the guy is much more comfortable as a passer. He’s reading more quickly, getting the ball to the right guy. He’s making really good decisions when he has to improvise. And those things, we want to continue to help him grow and develop.

But I think he’s learned to play the next play. I think that early in the year, he would get frustrated if he made a bad throw or whatever, but now he’s learning to play the next play. That’s what I told the players before we played the game. I said, ‘You’ve got to keep playing the next play. You’ve got to be in the moment because the next play may be the play that’s the difference in the game when you play games like this. So you can’t worry about the last play, whether it’s good, bad or whatever.’ He’s bought into that, and I think it’s helped him be more consistent.”

Tony’s take: Jalen Milroe played the game of his life. Shoot, if the redshirt sophomore can replicate this performance over the next three weeks and put in a strong showing against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, we could even see him make a late Heisman run. I’m getting ahead of myself there, but Milroe’s improvements should certainly create plenty of optimism for Alabama moving forward.

On the defense’s ability to bounce back

“I think that the defensive players did a great job of responding after those two drives, which we didn’t play very well in,” Saban said. “If we would have just tackled the guy – we missed a tackle with 12-13 seconds to go – the clock probably would have ran out or maybe they could have kicked a field goal, I don’t know. But the guy goes for the strip on the guy and misses the tackle and the guy runs for a touchdown. So those are all things that we can learn from.

“But I think that our team has shown tremendous resiliency all year long, and they’ve always been able to make plays in the critical time of the game when they need to make them. Get stops at A&M, played really good in the second half against Ole Miss, came back against Tennessee, got a lot of stops. So this is because of leadership, but it’s because of the competitive spirit of the group, as well.”

Tony’s take: Alabama’s ability to overcome adversity this season has been remarkable. More often than not, it’s been the offense that needed to wake up to turn the Tide. Saturday, the defense displayed its mental fortitude by bouncing back after a shaky start to the game. If you want to beat this Alabama team, you’ll have to do it thoroughly over 60 minutes.

On the fans doing their part

“The fans were great. I mean, it was great. The atmosphere was great. It cost them some penalties in critical times in the game, which gave us a favorable down and distance, which helped us on defense tremendously. But the atmosphere in the stadium in the last two games, I don’t think you could ever ask for more, and I certainly thank the fans for it. I asked them to do it. They responded really well. They played for 60 minutes just like our players, and God love them for it.”

Tony’s take: According to Next Round Live’s Emily Grace McWhorter, Alabama broke Bryant-Denny Stadium’s decibel record following Terrion Arnold’s interception late in the third quarter. It’s hard to get a full sense of the atmosphere in Alabama’s closed press box, but the Crimson Tide faithful seemed to really show up Saturday night.

On Alabama’s pass protection

“We’ve done some things protection-wise to try to protect the tackles a little bit. I think the fact that we’ve got Jalen stepping up in the pocket helps the tackles a little bit so they can push guys by.

“But I did think we did a really good job in pass protection, which that’s the key to the drill is give the quarterback time to make the kind of decisions he can make, and when the guy’s got running ability, it’s even more that way because the defense can stretch out. They’ve got to play scrambles if you take off running. It’s hard to get the guy on the ground, which we certainly got some experience on that tonight, too.”

Tony’s take: Alabama’s ugly sack streak is over. For the first time since the season opener against Middle Tennessee, the Crimson Tide’s offensive line allowed fewer than four sacks in a game.

Jalen Milroe was sacked twice Saturday night. One of those was given up by right guard Jaeden Roberts while left tackle Kadyn Proctor was responsible for the other.

As Saban pointed out, Milroe’s scrambling ability took some of the heat off the offensive line. However, the unit also gets credit for standing tall and keeping its quarterback on his feet for the most part. The test now is for Alabama to keep this up and stack up a streak of similar performances moving forward.