Nick Saban wants continued self-evaluation as Alabama prepares for final stretch

No. 6 Alabama is coming off a bye week, readying for a showdown with No. 10 LSU in Baton Rouge in a game that will have massive implications in the SEC West race. Coach Nick Saban is hopeful the self-evaluation Alabama did over the bye week has helped prepare his team for the home stretch of the season.

The Crimson Tide, as always, have eyes on making it to Atlanta for the SEC title game and the College Football Playoff.

“We had a good work week last week. Really tried to emphasize with the players, ‘What are you going to attach yourself to for the upcoming challenges for the rest of the season?'” Saban said. “Great time to do a little self-assessment of what we need to do to get a little more consistent execution, whether it’s individual players, systematically on offense, defense, special teams.”

What exactly did Alabama need to accomplish over the bye week?

“We really need to come together as a team versus a good opponent,” Saban said. “That’s obviously going to be really important for this game versus LSU, who right now is probably playing as well as anybody in the country. They’re very well-coached. This game has always got significant implications. They’re always ranked, we’re always ranked, so it’s kind of a rivalry game that is always an important matchup.”

Did bye week self-evaluation help Alabama iron out kinks?

On top of getting healthy again — especially up front along the defensive line — the bye week afforded Alabama time to continue working on some real problem areas.

Penalties, of course, have been one of those lingering and nagging issues all season.

Saban has threatened jobs, players have noted they need to hold each other more accountable. Have the Crimson Tide found any real answers?

The answer to that question likely lies in how serious the self-evaluation Alabama players undertook was.

“Well you never know how a bye week’s going to affect a team,” Saban explained. “Hopefully gave us a chance to get some guys healthy. I think pyschologically it gives you a chance to recalibrate a little bit. Get a little break.

“But it’s still going to come down to what I said earlier about, ‘What are you attaching yourself to?’ That means what’s going into your head? Are you thinking about the Internet and what other people think? Are you thinking about self-gratification you get from being productive and doing a good job? So the focus is so important, regardless of whether you’re coming off a bye week or you’re playing week in and week out, to be able to sustain that, recapture it, regain it, momentum, whatever you want to call it. It’s important to do in a game, it’s important to do in a season and it’s important to do in a bye week.”

Alabama and LSU will kick off on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET with a national broadcast on ESPN.