Nick Saban previews Texas game, compliments their offensive weapons

Alabama passed their first test of the season with flying colors, but head coach Nick Saban knows a much tougher task awaits this weekend vs. Texas.

At his Monday press conference, Coach Saban opened with some complimentary comments towards the Longhorn program and their coach, Steve Sarkisian. It’s fair to say the Crimson Tide headman was impressed by the UT victory over Rice.

“Texas, I think everybody knows Sark is a really good coach. They’ve got a really good team, they’ve got a veteran team returning with 10 starters on offense, six on defense,” reviewed Saban of Texas, emphasizing their offensive firepower.

“Really good skill players on offense, really good quarterback who can throw the ball effectively. They can make a lot of explosive plays. You know, (Xavier) Worthy is an outstanding receiver. They’ve got really good running backs, really good tight ends.”

Like Nick Saban’s own teams, physicality and strong defensive play are traits for the Longhorns.

“They’re very good on defense. They play really good up front. They’re physical, they played extremely well in the first game and they were excellent on special teams.”

The Alabama coach is excited just to get to see how his own guys react in such a competitive contest.

“So this is a really good team all the way around and it’s going to be an opportunity for our team to sort of see: Where are we as a team? Where are you as a player? You’re going to play against a really good player. And this is going to be a good barometer for us to find out.”

His challenge to the players is simple: keep your focus amid all the chaos of such a spotlight matchup.

“I know it will be an exciting game from a fans’ perspective and we love that atmosphere and environment that they create. But I think one of the things that’s really important for players is: Can you stay focused on what you need to do and not get affected by a lot of the external factors?”

We’ll all just have to see what the answer to that question is on Saturday. Texas took care of business against Rice last Saturday by a 37-10 final score, but did get off to a bit of a slow start. However, they eventually put the hammer down and looked good heading into the huge Week 2 matchup.