What Texas A&M said about facing No. 1 Alabama

Nick Saban improved to 18-0 against his former assistant coaches, including 3-0 vs. Jimbo Fisher

Alabama Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. — The streak continues. 

With the University of Alabama's 47-28 victory over Texas A&M, Nick Saban improved to 18-0 when facing his former assistant coaches, including 3-0 against Jimbo Fisher. 

Here's what Jimbo Fisher had to say after the game:

"First of all, I'd like to say congratulations to Alabama. They're a very good football team. They played a very good game. They took advantage of all three phases of the game, and that's why they're number one. I mean, offense, defense, and special teams, they did the things they had to do and took advantage of some situations in critical moments in the game.

"But, saying that, I thought our kids played very hard and, at times, played very, very well and played very competitive and had opportunities to be successful in the game and get back in the game. And we were right there to have those opportunities. We just got to learn to get over that hump, and we got to push through it. And against good people, you can't almost get there. You've got to be all the way, executing on 100% of every play. Each  — one little bit — when you slip up front and give up a sack, or let the guy run by you, or whatever it may be. And that's against good football teams.

"I thought in the game, I thought, defensively, we got some good stops, but we only made them punt twice. And their skill guys did a great job. They had a good mix, and they threw the ball, made plays, and had to get them on the ground. And we knew that going in. That's your chance. But you can't step back. You had to take chances to blitz them and get at them. And they made the plays they had to make. We got a big interception before half, which was very critical, and that deal.

"Offensively, I thought we moved the ball consistently the most part on the day, even had some good run game early in the football game. And then once you got behind, you kind of snowballed and you had to keep throwing the football, but still gave ourselves opportunities.

"It was a two‑score game going into the fourth quarter at 34‑20. And you're moving and had some opportunities. If we could have got one more, it would have got back to a one‑score game and some scenarios. Then when we kicked, the special teams were big. Their return game was big. They did a tremendous job in the special teams area of returning the ball. And we have to look at why.

"And then we gave up a blocked punt, which was unbelievable. It was a missed assignment, toed it away on the block. We figured it out on the sideline. That can never happen. We work punt as much as anybody in America, and we got a great punter. But they had a great punt. We had two returns. Then we got one blocked. And then we actually missed a punt again. We had a bad punt and low‑kicked it and kicked it in the middle of the field and gave up a return, which, as I say, for Braden [Mann], that's very rare for him. But then the kickoff return.

"So the field position game, they kept winning. And even when you get them stopped, you would get it backed up and have to get long fields against them. But to give our kids credit, we battled, come back, made some plays at times. And, like I say, showed some really good football. Just got to do it more consistently, and that's the key. And consistency of every play. When you play good teams, you can't give them an inch. And when we gave them some inches, and it hurt us."

Q. What did you see from your quarterback today, who was under duress most of the afternoon?

COACH FISHER: "He was. He was under duress. But we did some good things in blocking up there too. He was under duress; but, also, he made some really nice throws. There was a couple, I thought he could have kept making. He had some opportunities to get some other throws in there.

"But we'll look at the film. It's hard to judge until you see what he sees through his eyes from that end zone camera or right there till you judge it. But he made a lot of really good plays with his legs, with his feet, with his arm. We made some nice catches and throws. But there's some we still left out there. He'll be the first one to tell you that. But his heart and his toughness, he's a competitor."

Q. If I can ask two things, Jimbo. First of all, what could you have done, or should you have done different on special teams, especially on the punt return?

COACH FISHER: "What we did on punt return, we were trying to kick the one out of bounds and we left it in bounds. That's the last one. There's one — I'm not going to say what happened, but I think we were there to cover it and something happened. And they just didn't see it.

"Then the other one on the punt was just a complete missed assignment. We just completely had a missed assignment. And we made those adjustments. We were trying to punt the one ball out of bounds. And the other one, we kicked in the middle of the field on the fourth return. One of them, we kicked in the middle of the field.

"And on kickoff return, we weren't knifing. We weren't hit. We got a crosser, and it wasn't crossing. We tried to get that fixed, so we switched it out, and then had a couple double‑teams inside. We'll have to look at the film."

Q. The penalty on Kendrick Rogers after that, just your reaction to that.

COACH FISHER: "Well, I mean, you're a two‑score game. Listen, he didn't say anything, I'm not going to ‑‑ whoever. I don't know what happened. It didn't look like it was an argument or anything, whatever you say. You're in a two‑score game in a big situation, had a big effect on the game. I thought it set us back on a drive that we could have gone down and got some points.

"But if he said something, I'll have to wait and see what happens. He said no; they said yes, it is. And he shouldn't say anything at all. The referees are in control of the game. They're the bosses. They do what they got to do, and we got to respect that. And we should do that. But, at the same time, man, that was a big call at a critical moment in the game."

Q. Kellen [Mond] had a decent time rushing the ball, as you pointed out pregame, but your other two guys, I think, combined for 35 yards. What do you need to do to get that going again?

COACH FISHER: "We did early. I thought [Isaiah] Spiller ran the ball good. He had the one fumble, which was bad. But the other side, they got going. But our rushing game, we had to get away from them because we got behind. We had to match scores.

"But we didn't run the ball. Much better as far as our assignments, hats on hats moving. We missed a couple counters where they collapsed us. We got our pulls and things. They squeezed some holes on us that we should have had some plays there. We missed a couple blocks in our pulls on our counterplays that we got to get better at. Then we had the opportunity to have some really nice runs if we got that kick out. And we didn't do it. So we'll just look at the film and go figure it out. I'll tell you on Monday."

Q. Alabama's first three touchdowns came on third and longs. How tough was it to not to be able to get off the field? And then, especially, they turned those short routes into big plays.

COACH FISHER: "Catch and run. They're skill guys. I mean, they have dynamic guys. They have erasers. I call them erasers. I mean, no matter what you do ‑‑ throw it short, throw it long, long situation ‑‑ guys that can erase yards. You've got a guy there defensively and you make a tackle, well, that's good on the board, but they make you miss. And that's what great players do. And they have great skill guys that can make you miss in space. You've just got to get tighter coverages, get more rush. Also, You can only cover those guys so long, so your rush has got to be a big part of that too. And we didn't get enough pressure on the quarterback either."

Q. Coach, just judge how your secondary played, and did you think you gave them enough help with the pressure that you got on them?

COACH FISHER: "We didn't. I mean, obviously, we didn't. But you had to try to bring some things and cross some different looks. I'll wait until I see the film to see why they got beat on some routes. It's hard to judge that there. But, obviously, there was a lot of catch‑and‑runs. And one of the most disappointing things, I thought we had a lot of missed tackles. They did a great job of making the first guy miss and getting YAC yards afterwards. And I think we definitely got to get that cleaned up. But good players make you miss."

Q. On affecting Tua Tagovailoa:

COACH FISHER: "Well, no, we didn't get enough pressure. There's no doubt. We brought some pressure. We hot incited — see, that's the other thing. you bring pressure; but, also, you got to jam that route to make that ball hold just enough until that pressure can get there when you bring an unblocked guy. So that's a combination. I got to look at the film to see did we let the guy get off too clean before the pressure got there, or was it just pressure messed up. I couldn't tell you that exactly right yet."

Q. Coach, just your take on what you saw from [Demani] Richardson at safety today, especially in the red zone.

COACH FISHER: "He made a really nice play. There's also, you'll see, a couple times on a couple checks on some fits down there that he didn't get down on, but a young guy. Because safeties have a lot on, just like quarterbacks. I mean, that's the key guy that's making all the calls and checks and rotating and doing some things going down that way. So we'll look at that and see. But he made some outstanding plays. He's going to be a really good player. You can see his athleticism and ability for the future.".

Q. And I know on one of those kickoffs in the second half, you switched it up a little bit with the kicker. What was the thought process on that?

COACH FISHER: "Well, I think Braden [Mann] might have banged up his shoulder. He was kicking right there. And when you kick off like that with a punt, I think he banged up his shoulder when he was tackled right there. And he's been kicking the ball great in practice and hitting it deep too. So we just thought there's no sense to do that.

"On that kickoff return, that rotation you got, when you really got to turn, that jerks that shoulder just a little bit. He was punting fine. It was nothing major. And we had talked about even taking some duties off him because of his punting because the other guy had been kicking so good in practice too."

Q. When Alabama was kicking off, was their guy kicking it really high, because you guys did a lot of fair catches?

COACH FISHER: "Well, They did a good job early. We tried to gauge. They did a good job of mixing up their coverages, how they twisted. Listen, if you get a 25‑yard return, you're going to be in the top 10 or 12 in the country. So you can take it at the 25. There's no sense to try to mix up some of their twists and gains. We thought we'd just get it at the 25. We felt comfortable with that in the beginning. And we tried to pop one later, and we missed a block. They kicked it across on us. And that was going into that game."

Q. Coach, quick math here, but I know your timeout matching scores. I think I came up with four three‑and‑outs on offense today. When you do that, just how tough ...

COACH FISHER: "No, we did. We had a sack, had a missed run one time, had a dropped ball one time, had a missed throw one time. You do when you play good people like that. But, also, you understand what you're calling ‑‑ what you're doing, you're pressing yourself to get a lot more in what you've got to get because you're trying to match points when you come back too. And we still moved it good. But, at the same time, you can't have that against a team like that ‑‑ that many. But they're a good football team."

Q. Yeah, considering where Alabama started so many of their possessions, did special teams cost you this game?

COACH FISHER: "I don't say anything. That's our team. We win and lose as a team. There's nothing that costs us a game, except our whole football team and our coaching staff. We're all in this together as one group. So we'll look and evaluate those things. But field position is a big part. Those are things that we usually do a really good job of, and they actually got the advantage in that part today. There's no doubt."

Q. Coach, how do you assess your season given that two of your losses have come to teams that are ranked number one in the country at the time?

COACH FISHER: "Well, I mean, that's great. We're 3‑3, and we're going to find out how we play. Hopefully, we have learned from that and get down the stretch here and play good football. We've had opportunities in those games. It felt like both games, that we could play with those teams if we play with enough consistency. And that's what we didn't do. That's what we've got to find and learn to play the second half of this season now.

"Had some young players. Now you're halfway through a season. You know, you're in the next class now. So, hopefully, we can learn and play a lot better coming down."

Q. Coach, you ran the ball often early and had some success. You know, was that an emphasis? And what did Alabama do to really, you know, adjust and stop you guys there?

COACH FISHER: "Scored a lot of points on offense. They got going. So you're trying to stay and not get behind the 8‑ball. Listen, they're a good run defense. They play the run very well. But, at the same time, if you do that and then, all of a sudden, you get behind ‑‑ and, like you say, a couple, two of those drives were three‑and‑outs. If you look, we had a negative run on the first play of the drive. Then, all of a sudden, you're behind the 8‑ball, and you don't get it. So we ‑‑ you know, picking and choosing when we ran and how we ran, and we know this. They're big and physical inside. And then the score of the game dictated us kind of getting away from that a little bit."