Nick Saban: Players are Responding Well After Tennessee Loss

Saban reiterated that there is no one more disappointed in the team's loss against the Volunteers than himself, his coaches and his players.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — According to Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Alabama football is responding well after its 52-49 loss at Tennessee this past weekend.

During his segment on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday morning, Saban said that he believes that his team is doing what it needs to do to get back to winning football.

“I think they’ve responded well to it,” Saban said. “I know a lot of people are disappointed in the results of the game, but I don’t think anybody’s as disappointed as we are internally — players, coaches — so we’re all working hard to try to get it right and they’ve responded fairly well.”

As most are aware by this point, the Crimson Tide fell behind 21-7 in the first quarter before surging back to obtain a 49-42 lead with 7:49 left to go in the fourth quarter. The impressive comeback would ultimately mean nothing, though, as the Volunteers scored a touchdown with under four minutes left to play and then kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to upset then-No. 3 Alabama and snap a 15-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide.

The situation is similar to that of last year's in which Alabama lost by a last-second field goal at Texas A&M. When asked about what he says to his team following losses, Saban said that it's important to recognize the importance of losses and learn from them.

“We try to play one game at a time and I think it goes without saying that players know that we lost a game in the East,” Saban said. “I think it goes without saying — I don’t think I have to say it — that playing in your division is really, really important. You can’t afford to lose games in your division and still have a chance to get in the SEC Championship Game.

"Our goal here is to play with the team full of guys that are champions: they’re doing the right things, they’re buying into the principles and the values of the organization, do what you’re supposed to do to the standard that you’re supposed to do it to, be positive, have fun, be responsible to do your job — and those things are the things that we’re trying to focus on and if we can do those things well we may have a chance.”

In the same vein of similarities, Alabama proceeded from its loss at Texas A&M in 2021 to play at Mississippi State — a game that saw the Crimson Tide trounce the Bulldogs 49-9. This year, Alabama will play Mississippi State again, this time at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Saban noted that consistency is what he's seen his team lack most this season and is hopeful that his players' response to the loss will help them regain some of the momentum that they have lost.

“I don’t like to compare teams but I can say that we haven’t played with the kind of consistency that I’d like to see our team play with,” Saban said. “It’ll be interesting to see how we respond to a loss and learn from the mistakes that we made so that we can play with more consistency by having a little more discipline, a little more attention to detail and play to win. Having an aggressive attitude, a positive attitude about what you need to do to go out and prepare yourself so that you can play that kind of football. If we respond to that, I believe in the team that we have.

"So I think they’re capable but having the capacity to do something and the capability of doing it is two different things and I think we need to work on our capability of playing with more consistency.”

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