Everything Nick Saban Said After Alabama Beat Texas A&M

Alabama has some strong ties to to the Aggies, including Bear Bryant, Gene Stallings and John David Crow, but they didn't matter once the game started.

Nick Saban likes to downplay it when one of his former assistants is the head coach on the other sideline, but it became a thing when he beat them 24 straight times, a streak that amazingly lasted until 2021. 

It ended at the location of Saturday's game against Texas A&M, Kyle Field, where the students, of course, immediately rushed the field in celebration. But Saban got the last laugh over Jimbo Fisher this season with the 26-20 win over Texas A&M.

Overall, Saban improved to 30-3 at Alabama when facing one of this former assistant coaches. The only three to notch a win are Fisher, Kirby Smart and Steve Sarkisian. 

The Crimson Tide head coach’s most wins against a former assistant is six, which have come against Fisher (6-1). He's just ahead of Lane Kiffin (5-0). 

Here's everything the Alabama head coach had to say after the win at Kyle Field:

Full Transcript

Nick Saban's Opening Statement 

"What do you want to talk about first, the good news, or the bad news? Because we've got a little bit of both. But I could never be more proud of a group of guys for the way they competed in a game, the way we competed in the second half. But the message going into the game was, don't give the other team anything. Play with poise, execute, do your job, stay focused throughout the game. And there were times in the game where I felt like we lost our poise a little bit. But in the second half we competed and did a fantastic job. Jalen played extremely well. We were able to move the ball offensively, even though we had to throw it, couldn't run it very well. But the tenacity that our players showed, the competitive spirit, the resilient attitude to overcome adversity, a lot of which we created for ourselves– having 14 penalties in the game, mismanaging things with the clock at the end of the game. Really gave them opportunities that we need to be able to fix those things so we don't help the other team.

"We helped the other team on their last drive to kick the field goal. We had two penalties and a missed tackle, and they're right down the field and score in no time. So we have a lot of things to clean up, but we have a lot of things to be proud of. And I'm really excited about just the team effort. And you know, we weren't at our best in the first half today. But for guys to pull themselves up, to overcome adversity and resiliency. And this is a great win for our team. It was a great win for the program. It was a great win for this team. It was an opportunity for this team to sort of show who they are in terms of what kind of team we have, and I think we can have a really, really good team. I just think we... self-inflicted wounds are going to be something that we can resolve because they're all fixable. And we certainly need to do that if we're going to be able to compete at a high level in the future."

Burton had a great game and has shown patience this year. Is that kind of what you've been preaching to have a game like this? 

"Yeah, I mean, we've always had a lot of faith, trust and confidence in him. He's a big-play player. He has been bothered by a little foot injury for a while, didn't play much last week. He's back 100 percent today, and it was our plan to try to... We knew they were really good up front, and we would struggle with their front. But we felt like if we could protect well enough and get some time that we could make some plays down the field, and I think that's something that we did very effectively. And obviously, he was extremely effective in the game at making some big plays."

I want to ask you two things. First, how big was the safety in the fourth quarter. And you mentioned bad news, did you bring that up with the penalties?

"Yeah I brought it up with the penalties and mismanaging and you know all that. So this may be the record game for me in terms of messing up and still winning. It may be the record. If you take the mess ups and the penalties and you add them all together.  But then you look at the other side of that is, what kind of resiliency and ability to overcome adversity does somebody have and you're talking about the kind of competitive spirit you have on your team, which I'd take that any day because we can fix the other stuff."

How much does the team rally around Jalen [Milroe] and what's his ability to overcome bad plays?

"I think that's one thing that Jalen has learned, just keep playing the next play and focus on that play. You're gonna make mistakes, bad things are gonna happen sometimes, but gotta be a point guard man. You've got to make lots of assists, not very many turnovers, but you can't let the turnover that you do make bother you and distribute the ball to the rest of the guys on the team and let them make plays. And I think he's done a really good job of that."

What did it say about the defense after both turnovers on offense if they were able to get the ball right back? 

"I think the turnover when we turned it over, and then Caleb Downs intercepted the ball that was kind of changed the momentum of the game. And I think the fact that we were able to keep them out of the end zone and play good in the red zone was really, really important early in the game as well as you know, it's a little different if they score a touchdown in the end. But we allowed them to go down the field in two-minute situation because we had two penalties, and you know, gave up a big play. And we had several guys that could have made the tackle. But I'm just proud of our guys and the way they played, man. This is a great win for us."

Any Update on Malachi Moore and James Burnip?

"Malachi's got a twisted ankle. James has got a pulled muscle in his leg."

Jaeden Roberts getting the start at right guard?

"Well, obviously we had a tough time running the ball, but they had lots of pressure, which we were able to take advantage of making explosive plays down the field. It's hard for me to say how he played, but you know, Dalcourt had a little shoulder problem, so he was struggling a little bit. I thought 77 went in and did a pretty good job."

Trey Amos replacing Malachi Moore?

"Yeah, that's really tough. Trey did a good job. We got the one penalty for holding. But you know, he did a really good job while he was in the game. The bigger adjustment is for Terrion who goes and takes Malachi's place when Malachi goes out and then No. 4 [Kristian Story] goes in the game and then plays. So it's a lot of changes. And it's hard to practice two positions as thoroughly as you need to to be able to win the game and execute. And when Malachi first went out of the game, we made some mental errors because of that. But I thought both guys did a good job of adapting in the game and the other players around them really helped them play well by communicating well."

Nick you said this might be a record game or messing up and still winning for you or your teams what does it mean that the team did that?

"Well, if we can fix it, I think that we can be a very good team. You know, the injuries are starting to mount up a little bit. So there's going to be opportunities for other people to step up, and how well they do, that will be a huge determination because I don't think we have any easy games coming up. A lot of tough teams in our league. Couple good quarterbacks coming up. So we got lots of challenges. But if we could look within ourselves and fix what we need to fix internally, ourselves, and make a commitment to doing that and pay attention to detail, to the details that matter to winning in the game. That's what we need to do a better job."

No. 11 Alabama Beats Texas A&M, 26-20, is Alone Atop the SEC West