Alabama Football vs. Texas A&M Postgame Quotes
10/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
Nick Saban, Alabama Head Coach
On today's win... "This was a great team win, we know this was going to be a really tough game against a very good team in a difficult place to play."
Takeaway from today's game... "The thing I'm probably most proud of with our players is when we lost the momentum of the game in the second quarter when we dominated the game in the first quarter. Players really responded well in the second half to go out there and compete."
On the defense's big day... "The four interceptions were huge in the game. Three scores on defense is unprecedented and probably some kind of record. Minkah [Fitzpatrick] having two is fantastic for a freshman."
On Alabama in big time games... "You have to hand it to this team. This is the second team ranked in the Top 10 that we've beaten on the road in some really tough places to play. I think you have to respect the competitive character of this team, my hats off to them."
Jonathan Allen, Alabama Junior Defensive Lineman
On the defense's big day... "They deserve it. They work so hard throughout practice. We all feed off each other, today we were feeding off of the secondary. They executed to the best of their ability and that's all we can ask for."
On the team's performance since Ole Miss... "I feel like we're a different team from week to week. You don't win the game on Saturdays, you win the game on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which are preparation. I feel like we've improved, but we're definitely not satisfied or happy with anything we've done up to this point."
Reggie Ragland, Alabama Senior Linebacker
On today's game... "We played a good game against a good team that likes to spread the ball out and get the ball to their playmakers. They have a heck of a quarterback that can do that, and we contained him. Everybody did their jobs."
On the momentum before and after halftime... "The crowd got into it, but we had to stay poised and that's what we did. We came out and we made a play. Guys got pick sixes and everybody did their job. The offense did a heck of a job today."
On the defense's big day... "Anytime the defense scores more than the offense, that's a great day for the defense. I'm proud of everybody in the secondary, they did a great job today."
Derrick Henry, Alabama Junior Running back
On today's performance... "I just had to keep my head level, just help my offense, do what I have to do, help us get a win and make plays."
On Texas A&M... "They have a great defense and good defensive coordinator so we just had to worry what we do throughout the week, how we prepare, come out and execute the plan that we had for the game."
Jake Coker, Alabama Senior Quarterback
On the game... "I thought we played well to start out with, but towards the end, I'm not really happy with our play offensively. We've got to work on some things and we'll pick it up. Our defense did one heck of a job today. They really carried us."
On defensive touchdowns... "Three touchdowns defensively is pretty hard to beat. I'll take that any day."
On Derrick Henry... "I've gotten to where I don't get too surprised anymore. You see him doing things like that all the time and he did what Derrick does, today. Very impressive.
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M Head Coach
On the quarterback play ... "We were not very good at that position today. We had three pick-sixes. It's hard to win when you play that way. Both guys had been playing well up until today so I have to go back and look at the video. The bottom line is that Alabama was a good football team. But, also you can't play the way we did tonight, giving away 21 points, against a good football team and expect to win."
On the turnover... "When you play a quality football team like Alabama your mistakes are amplified. Instead of balls just being on the ground, Alabama was returning them for touchdowns. You look at the game, that's 21 points right there. Alabama had a lot to do with the way we played. I thought the second half we had an opportunity there with the blocked punt. But, they drove the ball and then for whatever reason we could not get the ball in the end zone. I thought our defense in the second half shored some things up. We played a lot differently in the second half as far as the total defense and the running game. It gave us the opportunity along with the special teams to make it a one score game. But ultimately you can't spot somebody that many points, especially one that caliber."
On playing from behind... "The game got to a point where we had to throw it to get back in it. It went just the opposite of how we wanted it to go. The game got ahead of us. But nobody has been able to do that consistently against Alabama. The combination of two things, our inability numbers wise, but also the situation where we forced to try to fight our way back into the game. You think as a coach that your comfortable doing that, but Alabama was able to take that away by forcing turnovers and scoring points off them."
Slim Margin of Error... "Mistakes against quality teams like that are amplified. They caught three of our mistakes and ran them back for 21 points. There are a lot of lessons to be learned there for players and coaches alike. That's the nature of very well coached teams like Alabama. We had opportunities in the third and fourth quarter when the game wasn't getting away from us. At halftime, believe it or not, we actually felt halfway decent. We hadn't played very well, but here's the score of the game, if we can execute here and get things shored up we can win this game. I was actually pleased with how our guys approached the second half. Even with the long drive we were able to hold them to field goal and we still had a chance. There are not a whole lot of positives when you lose, but I thought our defense played hard all the way unto the end. I didn't see that last year in this game. The score is different this year but a loss is a loss."
Post-game message... "My message was pretty simple. 'Yeah we are disappointed and yes we could have played better, but that is a good football team we just lost to.' We need to learn from the mistakes and how they can be amplified. Here is where the maturity and leadership aspect comes into play. We still have all our goals ahead of us. We got beat today, but we are tied with them in the SEC standings and we head on the road next week. What we have to do as a team is acknowledge what happened tonight, be truthful with where we our as a team and what we can get fixed, lean on each other, put this one away and move on with the rest of the season."
Ricky Seals-Jones, Texas A&M Sophomore Wide Receiver
On playing in a game with 3 pick sixes... "I have back in high school. Kyle was flushed out of the pocket and was just trying to get it to us. It's part of the game. It happens."
On struggling to get momentum on offense... "Alabama is a great team. They are physically sound. Every mistake we made they capitalized on it; that was on us. We just weren't clicking when we were supposed to and they capitalized."
On fighting despite the turnovers... "We just kept fighting. We would come to the sideline and talk about it. Then we'd get back out there and keep fighting. We fought until the end."
On moving on... "We just have to come in on Monday and work to get ready for Ole Miss. This game is behind us."
AJ Hilliard, Texas A&M Junior Linebacker
On containing Alabama's run game... "Alabama did a great job of making plays early on in the first half. We did a poor job of pressing our gaps and playing our defense the way we need to play it. A lot of that is on me. They were hitting up the middle and we just weren't pressing our gaps well enough. Derek Henry was hitting his holes and making it hurt."
On staying in the game despite the turnovers... "We have playmakers. We are going to make plays. Our coaches make great calls. It's all about execution. Against a team like Alabama you can't make as many mistakes as we did as a team. On offense, defense, special teams, you just can't make that many mistakes against a team like Alabama, because they are going you pay. And, they made us pay."
On cutting the lead down to eight... "At that point, we thought we were going to come back and win it. We knew at halftime that we had a lot of work to do. We weren't going to give up. We were going to come out and play even harder than we did in the first half. That's what we did, and we came up short."
Julien Obioha, Texas A&M Defensive Lineman
On containing Alabama running back Derrick Henry... "On defense if one guy is out of his gap a great back like Henry will find it and run it up the seam for 80 yards. I think we had little hiccups here and there, but once we went back to the drawing board and corrected them we did a good job of containing Henry."
On where the team will go from here... "The way I look at it, if we win the rest of our games we go to the SEC title. We have to win out and the only way we can do that is by beating Ole Miss next week. We can't do anything about the Alabama game anymore so we're on to Ole Miss."
Germaine Ifedi, Texas A&M Offensive Lineman
On playing under adversity... "You've got to roll with the punches. Adversity is going to happen, but we did our best to try to move on from it and not focus on the bad things that happened in the game. We've focused on not letting adversity affect us. The score may look a little lopsided, but I feel like we were into the game and playing hard up until the end."
On the team's mindset going into the next game... "We're going to move on. We're going to watch the tape and then move onto Ole Miss. This is a mentally tough team, we're not going to dwell on this loss. We're going to fix the things that need to be fixed like we would after a win or a loss. We'll be prepared for Ole Miss."
