Nick Saban looking for offense to control line of scrimmage more vs. Texas A&M

Shortly after Alabama got out to a short-lived 10-3 lead over Texas A&M, head coach Nick Saban spoke with CBS sideline reporter Jenny Dell about his early impressions. Despite the lead, he had some concerns.

Alabama was struggling to run the ball against a stout Texas A&M front and quarterback Jalen Milroe was getting thoroughly harassed. Naturally, Saban wanted to see his offense line start to play better and precent negative plays.

“We didn’t play great, we gave up a couple of plays. But I think we get into the rhythm of the game, see how we’re doing and I think the big thing on offense is we’ve got to control the line of scrimmage better. We’re not able to run the ball so we’re creating too many negative plays,” Saban said.

Shortly after Saban spoke to Dell, Texas A&M finished an offensive drive with a touchdown pass to tie the game at 10.

And despite Saban’s wishes to assert some dominance in the trenches, things didn’t immediately improve. And Alabama series was undone on third down and with nine minutes remaining in the second quarter, Milroe had been sacked three times.

It may not have ultimately been perfect, but Saban was happy to get out with a win

Saturday against Texas A&M was another example of Alabama seeing the mistakes pile up. Except they were on the winning end this time and Saban believes he set a personal record. The most “mess-ups” in one game to occur while the Crimson Tide still wound up on the winning end.

“This may be a record game for me in terms of messing up and still winning,” Saban said during his postgame press conference. “It might be a record. If you take the mess-ups and the penalties and you add them all together.”

Alabama finished the game with 14 penalties for 99 yards at Kyle Field. A ton of them were for presnap issues on the offensive end, with the home Texas A&M crowd playing a huge role. The offensive line was constantly jumping early and moving the ball back five yards. Just a few mental mistakes.

Saban will turn on the tape and likely find a few more miscues he is not pleased with. A win is a win though, especially on the road against a good SEC opponent. Having firm control of the West and continuing their quest toward winning a conference championship will ultimately be the head coach’s takeaway.