Nick Saban reveals halftime message during Tennessee game

When Alabama headed into the halftime locker room last week against Tennessee, the Crimson Tide had seven points and 133 yards of offense. It was a rough first half for Nick Saban’s group considering the stakes of the rivalry matchup en route to the 20-7 deficit.

But Alabama kicked it into gear in the second half, totaling 225 yards and 27 unanswered points to come away with the 34-20 victory. The second half started in a huge way with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Milroe to Isaiah Bond, and the Crimson Tide didn’t look back.

The turnaround led people to wonder what Saban said to fire up his players after the first two quarters. During an appearance on his radio show from his lake house Thursday night, he gave us the answer.

“One of the things I said to the players before we went back out on the field is, everybody has choice,” Saban said on Hey Coach and The Nick Saban Show. “You have a choice to play really good football, you have a choice to be a good person, you have a choice in everything that you do in terms of the standard that you do it to. The choice that we made in the first half and how we played in the first half is not really representative of who you are and you can be. So what are you willing to do to be what you can be? How important is it to you? You gonna let people come into our house and play that way that we played in the first half, or are we gonna go out play the way we’re capable of playing second half?

“I said if we do that, we’ll win the game. And that’s basically, pretty much what I said, and they responded really, really well to it.”

That strong push in the second half was quite away for Alabama to head into the bye week. Since a Week 2 loss to Texas, the Crimson Tide have now won six straight to improve to 7-1 before the idle week. Jalen Milroe had a solid showing by completing 14 of 21 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns.

After they recharge the batteries, Jayden Daniels and LSU will lie ahead next week when the Tigers make their way to Bryant Denny Stadium on Nov. 4. It’s another game Alabama will likely be out for revenge after last year’s overtime loss in Baton Rouge.