Football vs. USC Postgame Quotes
9/3/2016 11:52:00 PM | Football
Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban
COACH SABAN: Well, we're obviously proud of the team for the way they played in the game. And it was a great win for our team and our program. We got off to a little bit of a shaky start in the first quarter, especially on offense. But defense did a nice job of playing really well early on after the first series when they hit a big play and got three points and finally settled down on offense a little bit. And we scored a lot of points, made a lot of big plays, but still our consistency in execution needs to be much improved. And my message to the team afterwards was, if every guy self assessed and you didn't look at the scoreboard and just say, "How did I play in the game and how could I do better," that's what everybody needs to do.
We need to improve as a team. We need to get more guys that can play winning football and create more depth on our team, more guys to contribute on special teams. We have got to build around the very good players that we have, but we have to get more consistent execution, I think, from a lot of the players so that we don't have the negative plays; we don't have, you know, some of the things that we had early on on offense.
So that's my assessment. You know, I was really pleased with the kicking game. You know, I think both specialists did a fantastic job. Adoreé Jackson is a fantastic returner, scared us on a couple of those kickoff returns, but I was really pleased with the job that our specialists did and our cover teams did in, you know, containing that guy. Because he has made a lot of explosive plays.
We, obviously, played pretty well on defense against what I thought was a pretty good offensive team, a good offensive line. The defensive line probably doesn't get enough credit. But the fact that we could stop the run and play split safety coverages and keep people over the top of number 9 and, you know, their great skill guys was really the difference in the game. And we busted the coverage on the first long pass that they completed. But we had a couple of other opportunities where DBs should have played the ball in the deep part of the field.
So I can make a long list of things that we could do better. And, at this point of the season, that's where the focus should be. So you can win the first game and lose the next 11, and that's not our plan. So we need to improve.
Q. I wonder what you thought of Damien Harris tonight and, overall, how would you assess the running game?
COACH SABAN: Inconsistent. We had big play, explosive runs. And I think, as the game went on, we did a better job. But early on in the game, you know, we didn't execute very well in the running game. And, you know, we could have had a critical, critical sack fumble, you know, early in the game on a blitz on one of the first third downs in the game. So we have just got to
get more consistent. We have got to get more movement at the line of scrimmage. We have got to get more movement out of our inside guys. We have got to play with more power up front. You know, Shank was suspended for this game, even though we brought him on the trip. He will be back and playing after this game.
Q. Talk about the pressure you were able to get after the first possession for them and how that kind of changed the momentum for the rest of the defense.
COACH SABAN: Well, I think two things were really important. I mentioned the fact that they couldn't run the ball and we were playing split safety coverages. And we really weren't loading the box to do it, which is a real credit to our front linebackers. And that really helped us in the back end, because they make lot of explosive plays. And we limited that to a large degree. But I think, when you can affect the quarterback we got a couple of sacks early on and changed field position that's always important in the game.
And, you know, I was really pleased with the job we did in that regard. We lost our pass rush lanes on one, and they scrambled for a first down. And that was a problem for us early on. They converted third and seven, third and ten. We weren't getting off the field on third down. We did a better job after the first quarter.
Q. Jalen settled in after the first couple of drives. So did you say anything to him, or why was he able to maybe settle into a rhythm at quarterback?
COACH SABAN: You know, we kind of expected both guys to first time out playing, we think both guys are talented, and we wanted both guys to play in the game. And when the first quarter was over, I was wondering to myself, "Was this a good plan or a bad plan?" Both guys were a little shaky in the beginning. But I think Jalen, each series that he played, got more and more comfortable. He adds a dimension with his athleticism and his ability to run that I think is very effective, and I think that that actually opened up the running game. You know, when they can crash the ends and they don't think the quarterback is going to pull the ball on his own reads. And, when you're spread out, that's one of the better plays that you have, you know, it really shrinks the inside runs. Well, when the guy stays out there because the quarterback might pull the ball, it kind of opens up the inside runs. And that's how we broke a couple of those runs.
So I thought he settled in and did a nice job, threw an interception that I'm sure he will learn from. But I thought, when Blake came back in the game, he settled down and played pretty well, too.
Q. Do you think there could be a rotation with both guys next week similar to the way it played out tonight?
COACH SABAN: You know, I made a decision for this game that whatever we did at quarterback was for now. Did you ever make a "for now" decision? So we made a decision today for now. That's the only decision we made. So I'm not speculating on what we're going to do in the future. And everybody here wanted to know who the quarterback was going to be, all right? But did anybody write when one of Southern Cal players said, "I wish we knew who was going to play quarterback for them"? And isn't that the object, to make it hard for the other team, or to make it good for you guys to write about?
I'm wondering. I don't know. It's one of those hypothetical questions that you always ask me.
Q. Nick, the obvious is you lost the Heisman trophy winner, your starting quarterback from a championship team, five of your front seven. You just beat a ranked team that played for the Pac 12 title last year by 46 points. How do you like your prospects this year?
COACH SABAN: If you want to know the truth about it, I wasn't pleased with the way we played. And, again, you know, if you look at your internal scoreboard rather than the external scoreboard and you say, "What do we need to do to improve? What do we need to do to get better?" Well, you just get satisfied with the result that we got. So you don't take coaching, you don't try to improve, you don't think that there are things that we can improve on, then we've got some really tough games with some really good teams. If we don't get better, we're going to struggle. And we play some of those teams in very tough places to play.
So my focus with our team right now is what can we do better? How can we get better? How can every guy improve? How can we get more guys to play better? And, look, I'm happy that we won. And I'm proud of our team for beating a good team. And I don't want you to think that I'm not.
But, at this point in the season, I'm really focused on what we need to do to get better and how we need we have a lot of young guys playing out there now. If you notice, when those second teams went in, there was a whole bunch of freshmen out there. Well, those guys are going to have to grow up, all right. Because they're going to be the depth of this team. And, if we lose players, they're going to have to play. So we're going to need those guys to improve dramatically. And I think every guy needs to look at what they can do to get better and make their unit better and their team better.
Look, you've got to trust in the plan, you've got to trust in your teammates, and you've got to trust in yourself that you can do your job on a consistent basis. And our consistency wasn't always great, you know, tonight, especially on offense. So it's definitely something we need to get better at.
Q. Coach, on Monday, you said you had narrowed it down to Bateman and Barnett. So what is Bateman's status right now considering Hurts and Barnett played?
COACH SABAN: Well, you know, what I was really puzzled about is I said that we were going to pick a starter between Cooper Bateman and Blake Barnett. I never said Jalen Hurts wasn't going to play and y'all never asked. I never said he was going to play. It was the plan all along to figure out which one of those guys are going to start and manage this game the best, and Jalen Hurts was going to have a role in the game. We had a special plan for him. And he practiced his plays all week long, and he was going to go in the third series of the game in my mind no matter what. And that's what we did. Y'all never asked. I wouldn't have told you if you would have asked, but you didn't ask.
[ Laughter ]
But, look, we have confidence in Cooper Bateman. I wanted to see what the young guys would do, how they would play in a game. And that's the only way we can make an assessment about the future of what we do at this position.
Cooper has had several opportunities to play in the past. He has had a good camp. It was a very, very difficult decision for me. And I don't know what the future holds and the direction that we will go relative to when we look and assess the film and see how the guys did.
Q. So you mentioned the defensive four, and they only allowed field goals, but no one is perfect; so where do see this defense going from here on out?
COACH SABAN: Well, I think that we had a really good plan for these guys. And I think the players did a really good job of executing it. But we would not have been able to execute that plan if we could not stop the run, which I was concerned about, because they had a really good offensive line, and they have two really good runners. And we were able to do that, really to my surprise, to be honest with you. I thought we would have to play more eight man fronts and get more guys in the box, which would have opened up some of their outside throws and throwing the ball down the field. So I was pleased, you know. But I think we need to improve on defense, and I think we have to get more guys to be able to have roles on defense.
Look, when you play against no huddle teams and your defense plays lot of plays, last year we had seven, eight guys we had 15 to 17 guys that made a contribution in the front seven. They had some role, but they did something, on third down or whatever.
We don't have that many guys this year. And when you go through the season, can your defense sustain that kind of performance if you don't get more guys who can contribute? Because they can't play that many plays in the game, especially the big guys.
You know, when you don't have big guys rolling in there, because once their gas tank is out, it's out. The little guys out there, they can run 100 yards and be tanked on the sidelines and two minutes later come back up and say, "Coach, I'm ready to go," and run just as fast as they were before.
But when the big guys run out of gas, that tank is not getting refilled until tomorrow. So you have to keep them fresh and you have to have enough guys that you can do that with, and you can't let the season wear your players out, and it starts to affect their performance. So that's why I keep talking about more guys being able to contribute and play.
Thank you.
USC Coach Clay Helton
COACH CLAY HELTON: Yeah, obviously one game does not make a season. We knew coming in, win or lose, that our goal at the end of the year was to be Pac-12 champions. We played a very good team today, and they played up to their potential. And just the cold, hard truth is we did not play up to ours.
We had several mistakes, whether it was an interception for a touchdown, a fumbled punt snap that led to another touchdown, a blown coverage, and a lack of a running game that I thought put tremendous pressure on several -- on our quarterbacks today and put them in some hard situations, a lot of 2-high situations, where it's a hard day and, basically, four-man rush that was stopping our running game.
Credit to Alabama and credit to Coach Saban. They did an excellent job today.
So you all know, Chuma had a quad contusion and had to come in for dehydration. Got an IV. Hopefully, we'll have him back for next week. Noah Jefferson had an AC sprain. And Adoree', we pulled a little bit late there, got a tight hamstring after I thought playing a pretty dang good game.
Q. Clay, what was the thought behind putting Sam Darnold in at quarterback in the second half?
COACH HELTON: Just to get some experience. Really wanted to come out and have the opportunity in that situation where it wasn't a game, to gain some experience. You know, you never know when your starting quarterback is going to go down at any time. And where the game was, wanted to see Sam in this game, wanted to gain that experience. We've got two quarterbacks that are progressing and just wanted him to have some room for growth.
And I thought he did a good job, didn't make any critical errors. And as well as Max. Like I said, it was a hard day for quarterbacks, to be honest with you. When you are playing 2-high and rush the ball 30 times for 64 yards, that's an extremely hard day.
Q. I know Nick Saban earlier in the week had said the other two quarterbacks would be the guys competing for the second job, and Jalen Hurts comes out and pretty much plays the whole game. Was that surprising at all? Did you plan for him?
COACH HELTON: When you look at both kids, I mean, they played Blake and they played Jalen, and both are athletic kids. Both can run the ball, and you saw them both run the ball. I thought Jalen did some nice things, especially coming in off the bench and produce for them and credit to them. They made a change there. I think it was in the second quarter. They went from athlete to athlete, and Jalen provided a spark for them.
Q. Are you shocked at some of the mistakes tonight? You had a player ejected, a dropped punt. They didn't even cover the guy on the touchdown pass. I mean, just really glaring things popped out tonight.
COACH HELTON: Yeah. The biggest thing is probably my biggest disappointment, because I really thought that preparation-wise, we had come in the game and were ready. And that's on me, to be honest with you. You know, when you have mistakes and you have missed assignments and you have a costly penalty like we had, you know, at the end of the day, you have to take accountability as a coach. And like I told them in there, I got no time to feel sorry for myself, neither do they in that room.
We've got a big game next week versus Utah State. We've got to fly back, find the mistakes that happened, correct them, and get them going. Like I said, this game does not define us. But we are far from a finished product, and we have a long way for go, and we've got to make the corrections extremely fast.
Q. How do you get them back? How do you get them to trust what you're doing and say we do have the answers; let's get this going? What do you do?
COACH HELTON: I could see it in the locker room. I addressed them brutally honest, that, again, one game does not define us. I expect from them to go back on that plane, watch tape tomorrow, learn from it, and have the chip on their shoulder. Play mad for the rest of the season, that this is not who we are.
And we don't believe that. We came out. We did not play our best ball today. And between myself and this team, we're going to give every ounce of energy we have to show who we are.
Q. With all the experience on the line and in the backfield, why don't you think you were able to run the ball like you wanted to?
COACH HELTON: We played a really good front today. And I thought they played better than us. We'll watch the tapes. There were some missed assignments that could be seen. That's on us as coaches. We've got to get that corrected.
But that's a very physical front that played. We tried to spread them out a little bit, caught some 2-high coverage because of it, doubling JuJu. And then when you're not effective running the ball in those areas, it makes for a long day.
So, like I said, the O for us is run the ball, stop the run, play great special teams, and don't turn it over. And we didn't stop the run today, and we didn't run the ball very well. And that made for a rough day.
Q. How do you define from the middle of the second quarter on? You guys had the lead in the second quarter, a couple of mistakes. I don't want to be cliché, but it just seemed like the momentum snowballed.
COACH HELTON: I tell you, when you play a great team like Alabama, you can't make mistakes. You have to play an extremely clean game. And that was our goal coming into it and just didn't get it done. It started with a tipped ball, a tipped ball on a crossing route deep in our territory that was a touchdown. then all of a sudden, we drop a punt-snap when they're in punt safe and fall on it; that leads to a touchdown. And then we have a blown coverage on a third-down pressure, and all of a sudden you look up, and it's 21 points. And at that point in time, when you're playing a team like that, makes it hard to come back.
Q. You put a lot of emphasis on physicality from spring all the way to now. Your assignment, do you believe from first quarter, fourth quarter, were you pleased with the physicality of your team?
COACH HELTON: No, I was not. For us, just being honest, I believe physicality is being able to impose your will in the run game. And we did not do that tonight. And when that happens, our run sets up our pass. We can't let JuJu Smith get double-teamed all night. You have to be able to run the ball, get one-high coverages, and make it easier for quarterbacks.
Our physicality, the investment we've made, hopefully will pay off for the rest of the season. It did not show tonight. And we'll get better at it.
Q. A lot of careless mistakes, specifically you had a personal foul with a player ejected. In a situation like that, how do you approach that?
COACH HELTON: Well, you're just very honest with the player. It's a poor decision. You got to approach it with your team that that type of decision is critical and it hurts you. It puts you in a very bad position.
As you pointed out, you learn from it and you move on. But that player understands. Emotion fuels bad decisions sometimes, and we got emotional, we made a dumb mistake, and it cost us.
Q. What was it like out there for you personally tonight? Your first game going forward with your staff and then happen to look across the sideline and see Nick Saban and what his staff has.
COACH HELTON: I tell you, as we went through it, I thought in the fourth quarter, I thought we played with great emotion, great passion, we were playing clean football, and you look up; it was a close game. And then we made the mistakes that cost you.
As I went through the game, obviously, I kept on saying to the guys, every play is an investment for our future; that, you know, every rep that we get against this type of team is going to be an investment. It did not turn out like we wanted it to tonight. And we're going to see the issues that came up and fix them.
But these kids will retaliate. They are going to come back and they're going to do a great job. I know it. I saw it in their eye, that they want better for our team. And I know they will do better.
QB Max Browne and DB-WR-RET Adoree' Jackson
Q. Were you expecting to see Jalen Hurts, the quarterback, tonight? And what changed when he came in there?
DB-WR-RET ADOREE' JACKSON: Yeah, we were expecting to see any quarterback that came out, so we had the game plan going for whichever quarterback it may be. We had to just play our defense and do our thing. so It didn't change our defense; it didn't change anything we were thinking. We just had to go out there and execute.
Q. Max, you obviously this was not an ideal opponent for a quarterback making his first start. What was it like out there for you to experience this?
QB MAX BROWNE: We were looking forward to the challenge. Obviously, played a great team. They got the best of us tonight. It was good to get out there, good to play. But at the end of the day, a win is what we want and what we were expecting but didn't get that today.
Q. You obviously saw their speed. What was it like? Was it faster than you expected, defensive front?
QB MAX BROWNE: I would say about what we expected. I knew they had a great defensive line, for sure. But it gets down to a few big plays I look back on. I wish you had a few deep ball throws back; it could have changed the course of the game for sure, especially in that first half. I think it's a matter, like Adoree' said, we didn't execute. And had some good momentum in the first half, and I think we should have done a better job continuing that in the second half.
Q. What happened? You guys had a first few drives, were pretty good, big long pass in the first drive. What changed, I guess, after that?
QB MAX BROWNE: Yeah. I think it shows how much football is a game of momentum. I think you miss one or two of those shots. I can think now of one underthrown to JuJu and kind of a deep ball that I missed. Could have laid in there to Deionte a little bit better in the first half. You get those plays; it's a different game for sure. But at the end of the day, look back, correct it, and get better for next week.
Q. Max, with this being a game that you guys have looked forward to for the last couple years, can you put into words the disappointment in how it ended?
QB MAX BROWNE: Yeah. I think much anticipated game for sure. Obviously, with a big time opponent like that, I think we're just disappointed in the fact that we feel like we didn't go out there and play our best ball. But, again, that's a great team on the other side.
There's a reason they're the defending national champs. At the same time, disappointed with the way we executed and looking forward to bouncing back in a big way next week.
Q. Adoree', did you ever think that this was a possibility, what happened?
DB-WR-RET ADOREE' JACKSON: Like Max said, we always come with the mentality to execute and go out there and win. But like he said, football is a game of momentum. They had the momentum going throughout the game, and we just didn't execute the way we should. But it's never a thought in my head. I don't come in with the feeling that we will go out there and lose. My whole feeling, everybody on the team, is to come out there and get a victory. It just didn't go our way. At the end of the day somebody has to win or lose. Unfortunately, it was us. But, again, it was great team that we went out there and played. God willing, we get it back together next week and come back with a victory.
Q. Adoree', what's the most disappointing part of this loss for you and the team?
DB-WR-RET ADOREE' JACKSON: I don't think much would be disappointing other than it's our first game, we come out with a loss for the first game. But we know, as Coach Helton said in the locker room, one game doesn't define us. We know we can go back out there next week and get it going. And, as you've seen, for a couple years, teams have had one loss and won the national championship and have made a nice run. So our mentality is to keep it going and put this game behind us after tonight. There's a 24 hour rule. We can mourn for 24 hours, but after that we have to get ready and going because next week. Utah State is not going to be mourning for us.
Q. Max, to hold JuJu Smith to one catch, what did they do? Is there anything that was going on out there that allowed them to shut down such an effective receiver that way?
QB MAX BROWNE: They bracketed him the whole night. Sitting in a QI coverage and putting a safety over him all night, I think that's why you saw spurts of great things from ArDarius for sure. But, yeah, did a good job shutting down one of the best receivers in the country. Looking back, maybe there's like I said, mentioned earlier, we got a one on one matchup with him and didn't connect. So, obviously, that stings.
But he's a great player. We'll get back on track.
