Everything Nick Saban said on Monday of Mississippi State game week

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke to reporters Monday, the first day of Mississippi State week. Below is everything he said to begin the fifth week of the season.

“Obviously, this was a great win for our team. Really proud of the way the guys came out and competed in the second half. Played a lot better in the second half than we had a couple times in the first half where we sort of self-destructed a little bit with the way we executed and some of the things that we did and sort of eliminated some of those things in the second half and played much cleaner and I think played the way we would like to continue to play and hopefully build on that. And sort of show the players today when we watch the film, here’s the reason that worked and here’s the reason it didn’t work, whether it’s offense, defense, special teams or whatever. That’s the way you actually can have a chance to get better.

“This is the first SEC road game. This is actually a bigger challenge for us than the last two games, in my opinion, in terms of this team is very physical, very aggressive on defense, create a lot of negative plays, got a lot of starters back. They know their system. They know their scheme. They play very, very well. Zach Arnett, it’s his system. He’s a very good defensive coach. As the head coach, he’s done a really good job there. Obviously, the quarterback has been an outstanding player for a long time, but with the new offense that they run, there’s a lot more balance in it. 

“They’ve got two really good backs that are very, very productive when they run the football. They’ve got a really, really good receiver, No. 5 Griffin, who is very, very productive. They made a lot of explosive plays, throw for 250 yards or so in the passing game. They play really good on special teams. So this is an overall really, really good team, and it’s going to be a real challenge for us playing on the road in the SEC to play against this team this week. This is something that our players have to really focus on and do a great job in preparation so we can eliminate some of these things that have happened in games whether they’re drive-stoppers or giving up the big play or whatever it is, we got to eliminate those things.” 

Saban on Terrion Arnold…

“I think he’s more confident. I think that he has less, like, mental lapses. I think the biggest thing that contributes to that is better knowledge of the defense, better knowledge of what to do, how to do it, why it’s important to do it that way and the confidence that comes with that allows you to play fast and focus on the right things. I think he’s played a lot better this year because of those things.” 

Saban on Elijah Pritchett, Terrence Ferguson… 

“Both guys did OK. I think there was some things we’d like to finish better. I think the big point of emphasis with our offensive line is gotta get your second step in the ground, gotta get your hands inside so that we can finish blocks. That would be the case with both of those guys. But it also is sort of an overall evaluation of what we need to do to get better on the offensive line.”

Saban on Jalen Hale…

“He did a good job, made some big plays. I think the big thing with Jalen being a young player is, you’ve got to know what to do on every play so you can go play fast and do your job. So we need to work hard with him to try to get him to where he needs to be and make sure that he’s out there playing with confidence and a good understanding of the overall system of what we’re trying to get done on each and every play.”

Saban on who will call the defense if Deontae Lawson can’t play…

“We played most of the game this last week with Jihaad playing and Trezmen playing, so that’ll be the way that we go. Obviously, the depth at that position is going to become critical for us if Deontae can’t go, and we’ll keep working with these guys and try to get them ready to go this week.”

Saban on Robbie Ouzts…

“I think that we trust the guy to do what he’s supposed to do. He’s done a really good job of executing during the games and doing the things that he needs to do for us to have success on plays. That kind of dependability is important. You can say what you want to say, you can be better than somebody else, but you’ve got to play better. I think that’s the thing that Robbie’s doing is he’s playing better because he’s doing what he’s supposed to do, he understands what he’s supposed to do and he’s been very effective in doing it.”

Saban on playing Mississippi State with no Mike Leach…

“Well, I loved Mike Leach. He was different but in a good way. Had a great sense of humor. Obviously, he presented an offensive system or scheme, whatever you want to call it or name it that was unique and very challenging, but he believed in it and kind of did it his way. I always had a tremendous amount of respect for him as a coach but really liked him as a person.”

Saban the decision to go shotgun on 1st and Goal…

“There’s a lot of thought about that. It was not smart on our part to do what we did, and then we get a bad snap after all that. I’m not defending anybody, but with better execution, we shouldn’t have snapped the ball over the quarterback’s head, and we’ve got to get on the same page with the snap count. I agree with you that, at a time when it’s 1st and 1 on the 1, why do we need to be in the gun?”

Saban on no longer facing Mississippi State every year…

“Look, my focus is on this game. I don’t look back at other games. I think there’s a time and place to commiserate or celebrate or whatever you want to do relative to rivalries and the changing environment and landscape of college football. But to me, everything is about this game, our team, trying to get our team better and get our team to play winning football against a very good team. I don’t have a lot of thoughts or spend a lot of time, at this time, thinking about those kinds of things.”

Saban on Dallas Turner…

“Dallas has always been a really good player for us and a guy who works hard in practice every day, tries to do everything he’s coached to do. The team is important to him. He’s been a good leader on the team. Sometimes you’re fortunate to get sacks, sometimes you do a great job of affecting the quarterback and you don’t get sacks. I think affecting the quarterback is probably a more important stat than actually sacking the quarterback, and how we can do that as a group is really, really important. Obviously, Dallas, Bras and the other guys all contribute to that, but they all contribute to each other when they do get sacks. Whether somebody else pressures the guy and makes the quarterback move, gives you the opportunity, whether you beat your guy one-on-one or whether we have some kind of a pressure on that gives you an opportunity to go one-on-one and have a sack. Some of those things, they happen, they’re not predictable, but when you have players that do the right things and work hard all the time and have really good ability, the chances of it happening for them are a lot greater.”

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