What Nick Saban Said After Alabama Beat Arkansas

The homecoming crowd was treated to a comfortable win over the Razorbacks as the Tide remained undefeated in the SEC West.

The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Arkansas Razorbacks are two programs heading in opposite directions and that continued on Saturday in Bryant Denny Stadium. 

For a brief moment the Razorbacks had the better of the Tide, jumping out to a 6-0 lead thanks to two deep field goals from Cam Little. The moment was short lived for the Hogs as Jalen Milroe found Kobe Prentice for a 79-yard touchdown strike on 3rd and long on its third drive and the Tide took control of the game.

Arkansas battled back in the second half, outscoring Alabama 15-3 but it wasn't enough to get its first conference win of the year. 

The Crimson Tide remained undefeated in SEC play and its grip on the SEC West tightened with a 24-21 win over the the Razorbacks.

Here's what Alabama head football coach Nick Saban had to say about his team's performance after the game.

Full Transcript:

Nick Saban's Opening Statement

"I'll tell you like I told the team, it's great to win. It's great to be where we are in the SEC relative to how we've progressed. But there's a difference between beating the other team and winning the game. We played pretty well in the game up till 24-6, which was about halfway through the third quarter, and then we didn't finish. We got penalties, I mean the whole momentum of the game is on a third-down stop and we grab the guy by the facemask after the play. To me, it's bad. You can say what you want, but a guy does that and he's putting himself ahead of what's best for the team and putting yourself in harm's way of having a chance to win; and then they go down the field and score, the momentum of the game changes. We go three-and-out on offense, had a couple of dropped balls, missed a couple of throws, and not executing, not hitting on all cylinders, and let the other team back in the game. Had the resilience to take the clock at the end of the game and not give them the ball back which I think is important in the game. Hopefully, we can learn how to beat the other team, not just win the game, but how to beat the other team; which means you have to play for 60 minutes, you have to execute and do it one play at a time for 60 minutes in the game. If we didn't have the intensity we needed in the second half, that's on me, that's my responsibility."

"I always get asked what the halftime message was, but obviously, this one is not worth repeating, so why would we even talk about it? Obviously, it wasn't very good. We have a lot that we can learn from. I've got a lot of respect for this team; I told our team, 'This is going to be a different kind of fight because Sam [Pittman] is an offensive line guy, he's a tough guy, he's a physical guy, and their team is going to keep fighting in this game no matter what. They always do when they play us, so we need to be ready for that. Obviously, I didn't make that point as well as I needed to."

What do you think led to the improvements in the running game in the second half and also having a deeper running back rotation today?

"Well, we ran the ball really well the first time we had it in the second half; we had three or four really good runs. We think we have four running backs who can play, so we're going to play them when we feel like we have an opportunity to play them. That's always the plan; have we always been able to do that? No, sometimes the game doesn't dictate it, but I'm glad to see all those guys got to play and I think they all had good moments."

Do you think the slow start in the second half was because of being up at halftime and them being satisfied with that?

"Well that's two games now, you know we came out a little flat on defense against Mississippi State when we were ahead at halftime, but the first drive was really the best drive we had in the second half. We got the ball, we got the kickoff, and we went down the field and didn't finish the drive. Again, we just didn't execute the way we needed to execute. From the third down penalty -Jaylen Key- we had one or two penalties up to that point. We got multiple penalties after that, we got pass interference on third down which would have gotten us off the field again, and then had to kick a field goal. We had multiple penalties on offense which put us behind the eight ball. So we just have to teach and learn from all these things and hopefully realize what it takes not only in the game but in the week of preparation leading up to the game so that you can go out there and play the way you need to play against really good competition. I've got a lot of respect for Arkansas's team; LSU beat them by three points and Ole Miss beat them by a touchdown all on the road. This is not the kind of team you all think that they are, they're a good team, and that quarterback is a handful. When a quarterback can take a major college football player and sling him off like a gnat on a fly's ass, I mean a gnat on a cow's ass, that was one of the most impressive plays I've ever seen a player make. We said, one guy gets a guy, you got to hold on, you got to hang on, and we got to clean them up. We didn't clean them up. We made a couple of mental errors on defense on some of those drives that let them get back in the game too. We ran a stunt the wrong way, and the quarterback runs for 25 yards on a big play when it was second and long, but we learn from all these things."

There seemed to be some indications from your Wednesday news conference where maybe you weren't happy with the way this team was practicing. Did that air out in the second half today, and is it good to learn a lesson like this when you get a win? 

"I hope. I hope so. I use you guys to send a message to the team so if that's the message you got, I hope they got it on Wednesday. Does that make sense? It wasn't like I was trying to lie to you all, I don't really lie. I try to be an honest person and tell you like it is. I don't always tell you everything you want to know, but sometimes. 

Sometimes the pass protection was there in terms of getting Jalen [Milroe] time to hit those deep balls, sometimes it wasn't. What do you think it needs to take to get more consistent overall?

"Well, we make some mental errors, we don't fan the first sack of the game. We fan to the left and the left tackle doesn't fan and the guy runs in there unblocked and sacks the quarterback. A couple of times today we got beat physically, their rush just beat our guy. We have to handle pressure better. I mean, we have to be able to handle pressure and stunts better. This was a great boundary-pressure team, and that's exactly what they did. 28 sacked the quarterback on the first play of the game, it's something we practiced a lot. We get into the game, and with experience, I think our guys will learn from every one of these things and hopefully be able to get it corrected."

Will Reichard set the SEC points record today, what has he meant for this team and what does it mean for him to have come back and achieve these goals this year?

"Well, I'm extremely happy for Will. Honestly, I don't really keep up with those types of things, but I'm really happy for him. He has been probably as good a player at his position, even though he's a specialist, as anybody that we've ever had here; and he's even a better person, and I think that he wanted to come back and try to improve on his kickoffs that he would have a better chance to be successful in the NFL. I think this is one of the good things that name, image, and likeness brings to players: that a guy didn't have to be poor and not be able to earn money and be able to come back and do that as a college player opposed to going to the draft, being a free agent possibly, not making the team, and then you're out. That's one of the very good things I think about name, image, and likeness, and players have opportunities to get a better quality of life while they're in college. They can stay and advance their career when they need to, and Will was smart enough to understand that that was something that could benefit him and his future."

Coach, do you have an update on CJ Dippre and Trezman Marshall?

"I don't think they're badly hurt. One guy's got a pulled muscle and the other guy has bruised ribs, so I can't tell you the extent of the injuries, I don't think we know that yet. 

Coach with Malachi [Moore] not playing today how did you think that Terrion Arnold and Caleb Downs played the star position and specifically how do you think the communication went on the back end without Malachi Moore?

"Malachi is a huge asset for us because he is the most experienced player in the interior to make calls and make adjustments. I do think the guys played better having a week of preparation than what we did a week ago. It was tough when he went out because everybody hadn't practiced enough at those positions to do the things we needed to do, but  I thought both guys did a pretty good job today. We actually played Caleb [Downs] when they were in what we called 'Silver People' which is 12 personnel which is two tight ends and 2 wides. We played Caleb at Star, a little bigger guy, a little more physical against the runs, and played against three wideouts, we played Nickel where Terrion was the Star. I think Kristian Story stepped up and did a pretty good job out there. Number nine did a good job, Trey [Amos] did a pretty good job. Those guys were able to take advantage of their opportunities. We're hopeful, Malachi actually even went out and warmed up today. We weren't going to play him in the game but he's getting close so hopefully he'll continue to make progress."

Nick Saban's Closing Comments

It was a great homecoming crowd, with great enthusiasm. I think the enthusiasm the crowd showed at the end of the game was really helpful to the team, it affected them a little bit. We got a big sack that got us the ball back, and then we were able to take air out of it. Appreciate the crowd. 

The story will be updated with Coach Saban's video.