Nick Saban breaks down what changed for Alabama at halftime against Ole Miss

At halftime of Saturday’s game against Ole Miss, Alabama found itself trailing 7-6. Things changed after that trip to the locker room, though, as the Crimson Tide wound up winning the game 24-10.

The first half wasn’t a clean one for Alabama, which committed three penalties and committed a turnover in the red zone. At halftime, Nick Saban pointed out those self-inflicted wounds, and the Crimson Tide sharpened up quickly.

On Hey Coach and The Nick Saban Show Thursday night, Saban shared his message to the Crimson Tide players about what they needed to do to sharpen up in the second half.

“I thought the first half … was almost a novelty in how to self destruct in terms of some of the mistakes that we made, things that we did and didn’t do. And it cost us,” Saban said. “We’ve turned the ball over in the red area, get the ball first and 1 to one and don’t don’t score a touchdown. But the point is, to the players, is why when we do things correctly, they work so well and why when we do things incorrectly, they don’t work at all? When you evaluate what you’re doing and you look in the mirror, you need to understand that because that’s how good we can be.

“I mean, we won 18-3 in the second half and lost 7-6 in the first half, and dominated the line of scrimmage, the offensive line played well, we had good balance, we didn’t make very many errors. … But this is a choice that everybody has to make. When you look in the mirror, you can say, ‘Are you happy with who you are, what you are and what you want to be? Are you all you can be? Are you making the choices and decisions that will help you accomplish the goals that you have? And are you willing to do the things you need to do to do that?’ But we need to play the way we played in the second half and eliminate some of those costly errors.”

Turnovers on scoring plays have been crucial for Nick Saban, Alabama this season

Among those “costly errors” are penalties that come on scoring plays. Alabama’s season has been filled with touchdowns called back due to flags — something Saban pointed out Thursday night. That’s a result of attention to detail, which was a key part of his message to the players.

“We’ve had five touchdowns called back in four games — that may be an NCAA record — because of penalties. Five touchdowns this season because of penalties,” Saban said. “So just the attention to detail that it takes to be a consistent player and to perform at the level that I know these guys want to perform. But they have to have a sense of urgency about how important it is to do things right, fundamentally, as well as how you prepare for the game. I gave them a speech about, are we preparing like we need to prepare for the game?

“If you come here at 2:00 in the afternoon and you meet with the coaches and you go through practice and you go through the meetings and watch film with the coach, and that’s all you do to get ready for the game, you’re not going to be ready for the game. I don’t care what position you play. Because there’s a lot of information out there and things that when you get familiar with the opponent, and then the coaches tell you what you’re doing, that makes it so much easier for you to learn because you really have a good understanding of what’s being talked about, what’s being taught. All those things are areas that we need to elevate.”

As the week went on, Saban said he saw improvement in the players’ effort to get things cleaned up.

“But I think the players are trying,” Saban said. “I think we’ve had a pretty good week this week. I think the players are learning from these experiences that we have of why didn’t it work? Why did it work? and how can we continue to improve on the things that we need to improve on and self-assess individually and collectively as groups so that we can go out there and execute better?”