Alabama Football vs. Ole Miss Postgame Quotes
9/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban
Opening statement:
"Well this is a little disappointing. We talked to players on Friday. We thought last year when we played we gave some things away, and I really don't want to take anything away from Ole Miss. They played a really good game. But are you going to be a giver, or are you going to be a taker, and I think if you are going to be a great competitor, you've got to take what you want. You've got to compete that way, and you can't give the other team 24 points off of turnovers from the 30 yard line in.
"We had a coverage bust on a long pass. It was a miscommunication and everybody wasn't playing the same coverage on the option pass they hit. It's just a lot of things that we did that we controlled that allowed them to put us in a hole in the game. We were behind 17 to 10 at halftime, and we outgained them 2 to 1 and played almost twice as many plays and didn't finish drives, and turnovers just kill you. I don't know if there is anybody that we can beat if we're going to give away 31 points. I really don't.
"The key thing for the players is how you're going to respond to a loss. I really was proud of the way our players fought back in the game to get the game 30 to 24, then we gave up a big play. Then we got down by 20 points, and we fought back again and actually had the ball with an opportunity maybe to have a chance to win the game. I really like the resilience of our players. They played for 60 minutes in the game. They fought back in the game, but the mistakes that we made, all that we gave away, we could not overcome.
"I don't really want this to sound as if I don't think Ole Miss played a really good game, I thought they played a really good game. I think they have a really good team and I think they deserved to win this game, and they out played us. That's just the fact of the matter."
On what went into the decision to start Cooper Bateman, and how it affected the team's chemistry to start: "Well, we've had a lot of confidence and played both guys throughout the course of the season. We had some things in the gameplan early that the quarterback was going to pull the ball on and do some things, so we thought that Cooper's speed would be a change of pace for them. We thought that it could be a little bit of an element of surprise. We knew we were going to play Jake in the game. Jake knew he was going to play in the game. It's like the first two games: I said we're naming who's starting the game, we're not naming the starter, and that's basically what we did today. I thought Jake did a really good job when he did come in the game. He competed, played well and made a lot of plays. I'm sure he made a few he wishes he had back. I thought Cooper did a good job as well. I really don't that the change had anything to do with Cooper even though he did throw an interception early in the game, but they had 17 points off of turnovers that had nothing to do with the quarterback. That was the hole that we got ourselves into. That was the reason that we did it."
On miscommunications on the interceptions thrown between quarterbacks and the receivers: "The one that Cooper threw was probably not good judgment. He got kind of jammed in the seam, and he overthrew it. On a couple of Jake's, I think that they were playing zone, and I don't think there was any miscommunication on his. We have a lot of things that we need to do better. Obviously when you have five turnovers in a game it's kind of hard to win, especially when you didn't get any. We're minus-five with turnovers this game, and that makes it a bit difficult in the second half when they have a couple of big plays that made huge differences in the game. The bust on a long pass that was reviewed was huge."
#88 O.J. Howard, Tight End
On mistakes and turnovers: "There was no doubt that we had a lot of turnovers, but there was other stuff to like in this game. Everybody didn't execute and do their job, necessarily, on every play, so we have to work on that. It's just a lot of the little things that we have got to get fixed up heading into next weekend."
On the fight of team: "Yeah, we didn't give up. I'm proud that our team fought to the end. We got the onside kick, and we had a couple of opportunities to go down and score again, but we came up short. I like the fight in our team, and it showed a lot about who we are and what we can do going forward."
#93 Johnathan Allen, Defensive End
On team feeling after loss: "We are disappointed; we lost. This was a giveaway win. This loss is on us."
One going back to work: "You guys have no idea how bad this hurts, but we are going to get back at it. The same thing happened last year, and we ended up going to the playoffs. We going to get another chance and get another time to prove ourselves, so we can't do anything now other than move on to the next team."
On being a leader and encouraging his teammates: "It has nothing to do with being a leader, because this is a team. I can't say how many walk-ons we have who get me hyped every day. Throughout the game JK (Scott) comes up to me, Adam Griffith comes up to me and they give me that encouragement I need. It has nothing to do with being a leader, it's just what we do. I care for these guys, these are my family. So I'm going to do whatever I have to do to get this team pumped up. If I have to run down the sideline, so be it. They'd do the same thing for me so, it's just what we do for one another."
Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze
Opening Statement:
"Oh, man, what a game. It was definitely a four-quarter battle. We thought we had it put away a couple of times, and they just wouldn't go away. That's a credit to their staff and the character of their team and their kids. The great thing about it is we can improve so much from this. There's so many things we could've done better tonight. If our kids will stay hungry and with the right demeanor and stay humble, I know we can get a lot better than we played tonight. You know they had a hundred plays and that just wore our defense out. I was scared to go tempo because they needed a break it seemed like every time. The crowd was electric. It made for difficulties, but we handled it pretty well, had very few penalties because of that. I think there's a lot of growing up that happened tonight with some kids. The maturity in some showed. Hopefully, we'll take all the positives from it and be excited about the win, but look at everything that we didn't do properly and get better for next week."
#10 Chad Kelly, Quarterback
On the win: "It feels great. I give all glory to God. Grandma is looking over me today. This one is for her. I'm so thankful to play for a great team, great players, great coaches and great fans. This is awesome. This is what you dream about."
On the atmosphere: "It was loud. I don't think it threw us off our game. It was definitely loud. I'm so thankful."
#38 Mike Hilton, Defensive Back
On the win: "It was a big win for us. Coming to Tuscaloosa, it was a big SEC West game. It was a good win for us and we are ready to keep this thing rolling."
On the length of the game: "The last nine minutes were the longest nine minutes. That's one thing we thrived on, finishing games. We came out on top."
