Everything Nick Saban said after Alabama's win over Chattanooga

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 8 Alabama defeated Chattanooga, 66-10, Saturday. After the Crimson Tide’s home finale at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Alabama head coach Nick Saban addressed reporters. Below is everything Saban said after the Tide advanced to 10-1.

Saban’s opening statement…

“I’m really pleased with the way the guys came out and played today. These are the kind of games that you really want to maintain your intensity, kind of keep trying to improve, trying to get better. I thought we had a pretty good week of practice, and I thought it carried over in the game in terms of our ability to execute and do the things we need to do. I’d say about 98 percent of the time we had the right intensity. There was one drive there on defense where they scored a touchdown where we made a couple mistakes and made a couple other mistakes that led to big plays on their part. But for the most part, I was really pleased. 

“I thought Jalen (Milroe) played really, really well in the game, starting out like 10-for-10 or something, and he made some explosive plays, which were designed and practiced all week based on how they play and what they do. So it’s always good to see when you practice something and then you go out and execute it in a game and it works out exactly like you planned, and some of those things did. The players did a good job of executing. (Jermaine) Burton had a good day today with some big plays. And we got to play a lot of players.

“A lot of these guys, man, they work hard all year long. They don’t get a lot of positive self-gratification. Some of them don’t even get to dress for games. We dressed everybody who was healthy today – I think 134 guys – and got to play a ton of guys. Always happy to be able to do that. It’s good for their development, it’s good for their experience and obviously, they can learn and grow from that, as well. But just having the opportunity to play in a game in Bryant-Denny Stadium is a great experience for some of these guys, and we certainly appreciate the work they do all year to help the other players get ready to play. So for them to get to play was really special to me.”

Saban on Caleb Downs replacing Kool-Aid McKinstry on punt returns…

“We’ve got confidence in him. We’ve got confidence in (Isaiah Bond). I’ve got confidence in Kool-Aid, but he should have returned the first one and fair caught it. And then he shouldn’t have even fielded the second one and he fumbled it. Sometimes when you’re in that position, confidence is really, really important, and we’ve got to get his confidence back. Caleb’s got confidence. Obviously, he did a great job on the middle return he ran today. He made somebody miss and hit it up the shoot, and guys did a good job of fitting and finishing on their blocks. And he only had to beat the punter and did a good job of that.”

Saban on Will Reichard…

“Fantastic. I don’t know if anybody’s had a more productive career relative to what their role is, what their job is, what they’re supposed to in terms of his consistency, his performance, the way he’s improved through the years, mindset, his leadership and how he affects the other specialists on our team and how he’s helped them to develop. Will’s been a great asset to this organization for a long time and done his job about as well as anyone can expect somebody to do it.”

Saban on Chris Braswell’s targeting penalty…

“We keep telling guys you’ve got to keep your eyes up, you’ve got to see what you hit. You never want to hit anybody with your head down. I thought his head was up, but you can’t hit the quarterback in the head, either. We just keep working on it. We had one of those last week where we hit the quarterback in the hard and obviously the targeting today, so it’s something that we need to focus on. But I think when players see these things happen I think it’s a good learning opportunity for everybody that plays on defense.”

Saban on how Alabama’s growth compares to other teams…

“It’s always the goal that your team grows and develops, and obviously, I think this team started sort of not like we wanted. But I think a lot of guys have made a huge difference in the development of this team. Jalen’s growth and development, confidence, ability to execute, takes what the defense gives has sort of transformed our offense into being something that’s very productive. I think it’s increased the confidence of everybody else that plays around him. The offensive line has made significant improvement.

“Defensively, we’ve had some guys in and out, key guys. Deontae Lawson is kind of the leader of the front seven. (Jaylen) Key’s the safety, makes a lot of calls in the secondary. I think there’s a lot of things that we can continue to grow and develop and improve on defense where we communicate better and do things better. I don’t make comparisons to other teams. We’ve had some other teams that started out great and didn’t finish strong. I think we’ve got a two-game season left here, and I think we need to focus on how we finish and how we continue to improve and how we continue to have the right mindset to be able to execute, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of who we’re playing and where we’re playing, and that’s what our focus is going to be on this week.”

Saban on Quandarrius Robinson, Kobe Prentice…

“Q is fine. He just had a stinger. Kobe Prentice strained his hamstring in practice this week. He probably could have played in the game, but you always risk re-injury in those things. Hopefully in the next few days, he’ll get his strength back up to where that’s not a risk. So that’s why he didn’t play today.”

Saban on Ty Simpson, dropping the ball before the goal line…

“Do I have to comment on that? I mean, every coach says cross the goal line and hand the ball to the official. But again, that’s a learning experience for everybody, too. I mean, Caleb Downs wasn’t carrying the ball right on his touchdown. He’s carrying it with one hand, swinging it around. So that’s going to be a learning experience for him. But I thought Ty played well today, and the opportunity that he’s had the last two weeks to play has certainly, probably improved his confidence. It’s good that he gets some experience so if he needs to play, he’s going to go in there and execute.”

Saban on Justice Haynes…

“Justice is a really good player. Probably hasn’t got as many opportunities as we’d like for him to because of the depth at that position. But I was very pleased with the way he played. He made an outstanding run for a touchdown at the end of the game. But (Kendrick Law) did a heck of a job blocking for him downfield so that he could score a touchdown, but Justice has done a really good job all year long and we have lots of confidence in him.”

Saban on Alabama’s senior class…

“These seniors have done a great job of representing the program, first of all, representing the university on and off the field. Really good group of fine, young men that I am very proud of the way they’ve developed personally, academically, the success that they’ve had in school and developing a career off the field and what they’ve contributed to the team. Some of these guys have been fantastic leaders, set a great example. The one thing that’s been really, really good over the years for us – and these guys did a fantastic job of that as well – is the older guys embracing the younger guys that come into the program. In some places, that doesn’t happen, but it always happens here. It’s very helpful to the development of our young players. We always have a lot of young players who contribute because our team turns over faster, guys going out for the draft and all that kinds of stuff. So these guys have done a phenomenal job of embracing the young players on our team and helping them grow and develop and done a fantastic job of representing our program.”

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