What Nick Saban Said After Alabama Shocked Auburn
Nick Saban orchestrated his 19th career fourth-quarter comeback on Saturday, including four against Auburn,
Here's what he had to say afterward:
Saban on CBS interview on field: "There's been some weird stuff happen here. This is the first time it went in our favor."
Nick Saban's Full Transcript
Opening Statement
"So do I need to really say anything?
It's an unbelievable game. If you're in this long enough, sometimes it goes against you in the last play of the game, and sometimes you're fortunate and it goes for you. Our players really stepped up, got a couple stops when we needed to on defense, which we didn't play great all day, but we got stops when we needed to. Offense put some drives together and we overcame adversity, bad snap when we had an opportunity to score, then we make a great play on fourth down. So, can't say enough about the resiliency of our players, how they competed in the game, played hard in the fourth quarter. Got to give Auburn's team a lot of credit too man, they played lights out. Watch them play last week and watch them play this week and it's not the same team, but we knew we were going to have a tough game here. We tried to convince our players of that.
I was really pleased with the way we started the game. We started the game, we had some great drives, we had two touchdowns called back because of penalties. We allowed them, by our inability to stop the run on defense to get back into the game, early on, when we should have had the game well in hand. Part of the strategy in the game is that we wanted to get ahead so that they couldn't just run the ball and get them in some loose play situations and maybe we could rush and do some things that would affect the quarterback and it would be a little be more of a game in our favor.
It's kind of a reality check though, is what I told the team afterwards. Sometimes it can not be a great thing when you don't play really good and win, even though it's great to win. But everybody needs to have a reality check and build on the good things that we did, and there were a lot of good things in this game. But also we've got to fix the things we need to fix, because we're going to play a really good team next week in the SEC Championship game. So, I'm happy for our players, I'm happy for our fans and this was a great win for our team. I'm proud of this team to come from where they were early in the season to win eleven games, to win the West, the SEC West, and to have an opportunity to play in the SEC Championship game, which I think is one of the greatest venues in college football."
Jihaad Campbell's muffed punt recovery?
"Well it was a good punt, it had good hang time. 30, Jihaad did a great job of covering, was right in front of the guy, the guy misjudged the ball a little bit, was a little bit off balance and Jihaad was right there to take advantage of the fumble, the muffed kick. But James hit a couple really good punts to change field position later in the game, which I think was really significant and that play was no-doubt very significant."
To complete the 4th and 31, how far has this team come?
"Well they've come a long ways, but believe it or not we actually practice that play, every Friday. When we do walk-through, when we do special-situations. We get in that formation, everybody runs down the field and runs pairing routes in the end zone. Jalen made a great throw, but IB really kind of got himself into position where there was some room to throw it. He pushed inside, the DB was inside of him and then he came back out and Jalen threw it back out to him. It was a great catch, and a great throw, but that is a play that we actually work on. I must admit that you have to be a little lucky for it to work, but I'll take it."
Was this game a microcosm of your season?
"Well that's what this team has done all year, to come from behind many times, made plays when we had to make them. Whether it was the LSU game in the second half, whether it was the Tennessee game in the second half, whether it was the Ole Miss game in the second half. And this game today speaks volumes for the competitive character of these guys and the resiliency they have to keep fighting in the game. Should be a lesson for everybody in life. Overcoming adversity, if you've got the ability to do that, you've got a great chance to be successful."
4th and Short Call thought process?
"What we did was - we tried to get them to jump offsides. We had a play that if they didn't jump offsides we called it - we 'looked' it. So Jalen's under center and we looked to the sideline, because we wanted to see how they lined up and they had so many guys packed in to stop the quarterback sneak we knew that if we pitched the ball we'd have a pretty good chance on the edge. It was really good design and good situational football."
10-year anniversary of "Kick-Six", how do you feel tonight?
"Well I feel good. Yeah, we've had some tough ones, but still the team that played the best always wins in this game and we played well, but we had to overcome ourselves because of penalties and things like that, a missed field goal, not playing great on defense, but I can't tell you how proud I am of the guys and how good I feel about winning the game. But as a coach you always look at things like 'how did you play?' because we're going to have to play on a higher level on a more consistent basis if we're going to have success in the future and that's what you're always evaluating. That's the reality check that we all have to make."
Does the final touchdown play have a name and what's the message to Jalen Milroe?
"No, you tell him, they're only going to rush three guys, sometimes two and he's reading the guys down the field and they're doing things to try to get open and he's got to pick the guy, he's going to have plenty of time, he's got to pick the guy that he thinks has got the best chance to catch it. IB got position on the guy, Jalen did a good job of recognizing it and throwing it and if the play had a name, I wouldn't tell you what it was."
How did you see Jalen Milroe play like a point guard?
"Well I think he made some critical plays in critical situations, no bigger than the last one. But I think he played really well early in the game and I thought he played a really, really good game. I thought the couple times that he could've run and he threw the ball and we were across the line of scrimmage. I think that he just has to go because he's hard to tackle and he's fast, just make a decision and go full speed, but I thought he played great in the game. His progress has transformed our team and our offense and because he is a point guard and he is involving everybody in the game, which is a thing I think he had to learn this year, he's now become extremely effective at the quarterback position."
Alabama had the muffed punt recovery, the bad snap and then the 4th & 31 - you commented on luck earlier, is it ever really luck or?
"Well you know, ya'll like celebrating the "Kick Six", we had the ball five times inside the 25-yard line in the third and fourth quarter and we were ahead by seven points and never scored a point. Made a field goal, got a penalty, ya'll blocked the next one. Ran the ball to the seven yard line, got a personal foul, dead ball personal foul in the end zone, backed it up, didn't score. So we've been on both sides of the good fortune and the misfortune and I've got to admit, we had good fortune. But it still comes down to your ability to execute, somebody had an opportunity to make a play, whether it was their punt returner, or IB in the end zone and whoever was guarding him. So that's why you play the game."
Do you practice that play from 31-yards?
We change the distance, like from 16, to 21, to... (Inaudible)
