Nick Saban critical of first half effort against Tennessee: 'We played about as bad as we can play'

As Alabama went into the locker rooms trailing Tennessee 28-20, coach Nick Saban was extremely critical of his team’s first-half performance. The Crimson Tide managed to put up 20 points, but gave up more points in the first half to Tennessee than they’d given up in any full game all season long.

The Volunteers jumped out to an incredible lead behind a barrage of touchdown drives against the Alabama defense. With nearly the entire second quarter still to play, the Volunteers led on the scoreboard 28-10 after a mistake by Alabama’s punt return team gave them a second chance on their first stalled drive of the game.

Despite the quick scoring by Tennessee, Bryce Young and the Crimson Tide remained competitive with 20 points of their own in the half — although they still entered the locker rooms at the break with an eight-point deficit.

Saban spoke at halftime about his team’s mental mistakes and on-field errors, claiming that trailing in the one-score game was about as bad as it gets in his opinion.

“Well we played about as bad as we can play in the first half, especially on defense. Lot of penalties, bad error on special teams to basically give them a score. So… but we’re still in the game. We gotta come out and play better, both sides of the ball. We gotta eliminate the penalties, get some turnovers. We just gotta play our game,” said Saban.

The matchup between unbeaten SEC schools is one that will likely make a tremendous impact at the end of the season when the College Football Playoff bracket is built. Alabama entered the game ranked as the No. 3 team in the nation, with Tennessee ranked as the No. 6 team. A win for either team will be a huge factor in the playoff conversation, but both teams have plenty to battle through before then — including a possible appearance in the SEC championship game.