WATCH: Nick Saban addresses media after win over Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. — Alabama (8-2, 5-2 SEC) avoided back-to-back losses on Saturday afternoon after escaping Oxford with a 30-24 victory over Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2 SEC). After a rough start to the game that included getting down 17-7, the Crimson Tide clawed its way back and outscored the Rebels 16-7 in the second half.

Soon after the game, Alabama head coach Nick Saban addressed the media to talk about his team’s performance. Below, we’ve included everything the seven-time national championship-winning coach said during that availability.

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Opening statement…

“Really, really proud of our players in terms of the way they competed in the game. I think that’s the big thing that we wanted to get our players to get back to is, you’re responsible for the identity that you create and it’s personal in terms of how you play and how you compete in the game to try to dominate the guy you’re playing against. And I saw a lot of that in the second half, so we took a step in the right direction. We had to overcome a lot of adversity in the game. We didn’t get off to a great start, but the players just kept playing one play at a time and made the plays at the end of the game that we needed to make.

“Jase McClellan, the offensive line stepped up in the second half. Defense had some big stops. They only scored once in the second half, got the stop when we needed to. I thought Bryce did a really good job of managing the game today. It was a tough night in a lot of ways but a great night for us because I think we took a step in the right direction as a football team, and I’m really proud of our guys for the way they competed in the game.”

On the performance of Alabama DL Byron Young…

“Byron played great. A Mississippi guy, so I’m sure he was fired up for the game. I thought he played great, but he’s played really well for us all year. He’s a good leader on the team. It means a lot to him. Glad to see him doing well.”

On the status of Alabama RB Jahmyr Gibbs…

“He twisted his ankle.”

On fellow RB Jase McClellan stepping up…

“I mentioned what a great job he did in the second half. He made some physical runs. The run he made on 2nd and 12, he basically did that on grit and determination. Really ran hard in the game, played physical. He’s played well for us all year. Jahmyr’s just played really well, too. So Jase stepped up tonight and took advantage of it, no doubt.”

On Ole Miss freshman RB Quinshon Judkins…

“He’s a good player. They’re tough when they spread you out with four wide receivers and they run the ball so well and they have such good backs. And he’s an outstanding player. Fast, physical, can make you miss, hard to tackle. And you’ve gotta try to stay in nickel, you can’t play dime, because you can’t stop the runs and you can’t really match up on the passes. So one of the things in the second half that helped us when we got some third-down stops is we stopped the run a few times. We got third and long so we could play dime, so we could match up on the passes and got a couple sacks and got off the field on third down, which was huge in the game.”

On Alabama freshman WR Kendrick Law…

“Kendrick Law has really come along. He’s a guy we really were hopeful would be a contributor. He pulled his hamstring several weeks ago, was out for a couple weeks, but now he’s back to full strength. He played really well on special teams a couple weeks. I thought he did a really good job, but he’s a guy we’ve been trying to get in the lineup now for some time.”

On what he said to Alabama’s offense after failed fourth-down attempt…

“It wasn’t a real good message. Obviously, a miscommunication on the snap count, the play, the shift, the motion. But I think those kinds of things, when you talk about – sometimes you’ve just gotta do simple things better. Simple things like focusing on doing your job, focusing on the snap count, focusing on who you’re blocking, focusing on what your eye control is in terms of what you’re looking at.

“You’ve gotta do simple things better, and that was the message that I gave to the team before the game, and they obviously got it right then when we were not doing simple things very well. But I think the offense really responded, especially in the second half. I was really, really pleased with the way they responded on the line of scrimmage to be able to run the ball effectively and to make plays on third down when we needed to and move the ball, control the ball and control field position in the game.”

On the health status of Alabama CB Eli Ricks…

“Eli Ricks is OK. I think his head is the issue. We haven’t been able to test him from a concussion protocol standpoint as of yet. But I saw him the locker room. He’s OK.”

On the team taking pride in its performance…

“All I’ve been talking about is how the players competed in the game. I think they have a lot of pride in what the standard of playing at Alabama is. And they were challenged to play to that standard, to take it personal, to understand that they’re responsible for the identity that they create by how they play on the field. It shouldn’t be anybody else that makes that determination for them, and I think they took it personally and I think they showed it in the game tonight.”

On Alabama’s fumble recovery that led to a score before halftime…

“It was huge. It set up a score, got us to 17-14 and from that time, I thought we played a little better in the game on both sides of the ball. But that getting 17-14 at halftime – but nobody even talked about the score at halftime, which is exactly how we want it to be. Because the whole focus in this game was we’ve gotta play one play at a time for 60 minutes in the game and nobody’s looking at the scoreboard, and they competed that way.”

Also: Lane Kiffin post-game presser