Alabama vs Mississippi Post Game Quotes
10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 17, 2010
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Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban
Opening statement:
"The goal of this game was for us to get back to playing with the kind of effort, the kind of toughness, and the discipline, execution and intensity that you need to play with to play winning football. We probably hit on the toughness part; I was pleased with that. I thought we tackled better on defense and played on the line of scrimmage better. We did a better job all the way around. I thought we gave a much better effort in this game. Guys really played hard, and I'm really proud of that. The intensity was good. The execution was not what it needs to be, and that's something we can to improve on. We had way too many penalties, discipline penalties - offside on defense, false starts on offense - and those are things that we need to improve on because that is very uncharacteristic of us. We struggled a little bit offensively. We've actually struggled against these guys for three years in a row offensively. They pretty much take the run away from you and make it difficult to run. You have got to execute in the passing game. At times we did, and at times we didn't. They gave us too many negative plays, and the penalties hurt our offense stopping us on a couple of drives. We didn't make enough explosive plays. We did a pretty good job of scoring in the red zone and still put some pretty good drives together. There's a lot to improve on, and I'm sure that everyone will be focused on trying to improve.
"Ole Miss has a good football team. They played hard out there tonight. They're very well coached. They're very difficult to defend, in terms of the kind of offense they run. I think their quarterback does a fabulous job with the option. It was really challenging to our players, but I was really pleased with the way we played it. I think in the first half, we played great on third down. On their scoring drives, I know we had them in third down three times and never got them off the field. I know they were much better on third down, and that's why they possessed the ball in the second half because we didn't get them off the field on a couple of drives on third down. That's something that we need to improve on. We did a nice job of stopping them on third in the first half, though."
#3 Trent Richardson Running Back
On the energy level tonight
I thought the energy level was good when we came back in the second half. We came out and executed plays, and we got to the ball. We did what we had to do to get the win.
On if this game was a good response after last week's loss to South Carolina
We needed a game like this. We had a minor setback, and we needed to comeback big after the loss. We got the win tonight and will continue to work on things in practice to get better.
#57 Marcell Dareus Defensive Line
On whether or not he thought the team got back to winning football tonight
To me, I do not really think we are quite there. We have a lot of room for improvement. We need to go in and get back to the playbooks and watch more film to get rid of the mistakes we had. I made some mistakes today that I should not have made. I need to go into practice and get better at things that way I can help lead this team.
On getting hurt early in the game and continuing to play
I always tell the team I will give them everything I have. I am going to give 110 percent every time I get on the field. Getting hurt is not even a question. I have to go out there and perform the best way I can.
Head Coach Houston Nutt
Opening statement:
I thought our guys played hard. That first half was difficult. We had bad field position going against a very good football team, and you can't help them. We helped them. We were the least penalized team in the league coming in and then man, we just can't help a good team. We helped them there. I felt we had the momentum. There was a time we had the momentum there in the second half, and we didn't get that onside kick. That hurt. I was proud of how hard our guys fought. I thought our defense really came to play tonight. We've got to do a better job of catching some balls. There were some opportunities we had there, but I just don't like foolish penalties. We've got to do better at that.
On the play of his team up front
For two true freshmen, and who you're going against, I was very, very proud. These guys are going to be something special one day. Eighteen year old guys coming out here in this environment and going against who they go against - not bad, not bad at all. I've got to watch the film, but again I was just proud of how they fought and they were into it. We knew the caliber of team we were going against. We had a lot of injuries last week, but they came back. They fought hard, and to me that's what it's all about.
On the play of the defense
The defense came up big at times. They kept excellent pursuit and excellent swarming. We've talked about gang-tackling. You can't tackle (Mark) Ingram, a Heisman trophy winner, and Trent Richardson. You can't tackle them one-on-one. You've got to get your people there. You've got to gather around the football in gangs, and our guys did that. They chased the ball extremely hard. A really decisive third-and-18 or whatever it was when they hit the screen on us. They really played good all game long.
#42 D.T. Shackleford Linebacker
On the effort of the defense
I think we gave a strong effort. I believe we didn't quit. The objective of the game is to win, but you just have to find the good in what happened. The good tonight was that we didn't quit.
On Trent Richardson's 85-yard reception
It was difficult to accept, but once we got on the sideline we told each other that we are a team. When one person blows an assignment we all blew that assignment. We are all going to have to work to get better together.
