Football vs. Missouri Postgame Quotes
10/13/2018 10:02:00 PM | Football
Head Coach Nick Saban
Opening statement
"I really challenged the players for this game. A lot of people talked about the fact that we haven't been in a tough game and haven't had a lot of adversity. I asked the players, 'How are you going to respond to tough situations in the game?' and I think the players did a really good job of that. It was a tough game.
"Missouri was a physical team up front and on defense, and I was really proud of the way our players competed in the game. The defense played against a really good offensive team today and a really good quarterback and did a good job of holding them to 10 points, and I was really pleased with the way the competed in the game. We knew this was going to be a tough game. We have a lot of respect for Missouri and their team. If there was a disappointment, it was probably the fact that we had the ball in the red zone three or four times that we didn't score. We had to kick field goals, went for it on fourth down once and didn't make it, so we need to do a better job in the red zone. They blitzed and pressured a lot, and we didn't do a good enough job of handling that part of what they did. If we did a little better job in the red zone, maybe we would have scored a little more. I was really pleased with the way these guys played, and it's great to see them respond to the challenge. They made a lot of commitments to each other that they were going to try and respond together as a team, and I think they did that. I also think we will have a lot of challenges in the future too, so this is a good learning opportunity.
"We did get some guys knocked up. Tua (Tagovailoa) could have gone back in the game. He wanted to go back in the game, but I didn't think it was worth putting him back in. He sort of tweaked his knee a little bit, the same one he tweaked last week. We don't think there's any issues or problems with it. DeVonta Smith pulled a muscle, so he's going to be day-to-day and probably would be the most questionable guy that we have. The other guys twisted ankles and bruised shoulders, and they may miss a day of practice, but I don't think it will be an issue for the next game."
On the team needing Jalen Hurts and his readiness when he got the call
"He has played a lot, and he has done very well in games. I think he did a great job of managing the game when he was in. We were trying to run the ball, shrink the game a little bit and keep it away from them. I thought he did a really good job. We have confidence in Jalen. He has really improved as a pocket passer. We are really pleased with the way he played today, and we have been pleased with the way he has played all year."
On how the secondary handled Drew Lock tonight
"We didn't give up very many explosive plays, which is a good thing. Saivion (Smith) really played well in the game; I was pleased with the way he played, getting two interceptions. We kept people cut off for the most part. Their two best receivers did not play in the game; they did not play last week against South Carolina, and I'm not sure what's exactly wrong with them. I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part. There is plenty of room for improvement. We did make some errors early on. We played nickel most of the time even though they were in two tight ends and two wide receivers, which is usually something we would play regular against. The front did a good enough job of stopping the run that we didn't need to do it, and we could adjust to all their formations a lot better in nickel. We settled down, and I was really pleased with how the guys played in the second half."
#8 Josh Jacobs, RB
On playing a role on special teams and offense
"It's definitely a lot of fun to be out there and just show my versatility. I just try to go out there and execute everything they ask me to do."
On the feel to this game compared to others
"We actually were looking for a game like this. I feel like this is the type of game that we needed, just to show what kind of group we can be when we face adversity. We have, and just try to go out there, and execute every play to the best of our abilities."
#47 Christian Miller, LB
On how it felt to play so well on defense against good offense
"I was happy with the way we played. There are still a couple of things we could've done a little bit better, but overall we came out and held down to our goal and limited their points. They had a high-powered offense, and we got a chance to show what we can do against a first-round draft pick (in Missouri quarterback Drew Lock). It was a good effort from our defense."
On the defense being asked to step up in the second half
"We take pride in (being asked to step up), and that's how it has always been around here anyways. It's something we wanted to do, just taking it upon ourselves to make sure we helped get the win. Tonight, the game was put it in our hands, and we really stepped it up in how we played tonight. That's something we definitely wanted to do after last week; it wasn't our best showing. I think our player was a lot better this week."
Head Coach Barry Odom
Opening statement
"There are things we talked throughout the week on, having this opportunity to, in this environment, to play the best team in the country. We needed the turnover margin to be in our favor. We needed to eliminate explosive plays when our defense was out on the field, and obviously we didn't start that way. You look at the opportunities throughout the game to continue to stay in the moment and battle, and I thought our football team did that. We didn't make enough plays to extend drives offensively. They got rolling there in the second quarter, and they are a good football team, as good as I have ever gone against and as I have ever seen. They are solid in every area, and Nick (Saban) has done a tremendous job.
"You look at our football team, where we are, and dealing facts and reality, and we are 3-3 and we have a lot of great opportunities coming up ahead of us if we take care of business. That is the process of taking everything that you have done. You learn from experiences and you apply them and you move forward to try and become better. We still have an opportunity to be a really good football team. We've got guys that will battle no matter the circumstance and when they get the opportunity they are going to go all out when they are out there.
"I know that hurdle of where we have become in our program, we're there. Now we have to go get in a position that we can go win a football game against a really good opponent. The last three weeks have been tough on everybody. You play Georgia, who at the time was No. 2. Go back even before that and Purdue is a good football team. South Carolina and us were very evenly matched, and they made enough plays to win it and they were a good team. Tonight, we had the best one. It doesn't get any easier with the schedule and grind of our conference the way that it lays out. It's unforgiving, and if you are not ready to go it will expose you pretty quick. The challenge for me and for us as a program, being 3-3, we have an opportunity to go back to work as soon as we get home and let's get focused on our next opponent for homecoming."
On the pressure of having to score every time the offense touched the ball
"I didn't think we were going to have to every time, and as you go through the thoughts of preparing and you watch them; they have scored on the first play of the game multiple times. They are really good, and the thing that we talked over and over and tried to do this week was eliminate explosive plays. We got that opportunity there on second down, and our deep safety jumped on the deep over route and they got it behind. He was expecting someone who was in coverage. Cam was expecting our other safety to climb high. Then we got put in a couple bad situations with turnovers and playing against that team is a recipe to get swamped real quick. I thought for us to get it into the fourth quarter we needed to focus on the moment of playing right here and right now in keeping on our blinders in limiting the explosive plays and not turning the ball over, and unfortunately we were not able to do that."
On Drew Lock and the offense's performance
"I know we turned the ball over, but I have not had a chance to go over any video or talk to the other coaches on their thoughts as well. We weren't efficient enough offensively to sustain drives, and that is on all 11 guys. We need our quarterback to play really well to have an opportunity. My assessment right now wouldn't really be fair, but I know I am glad he is our quarterback."
#9 Jalen Knox, WR
On the pressure of scoring every possession
"We know what type of offense we are. We came into the game knowing we had to put up points. We just didn't put up enough tonight."
On what broke down during second half
"I thought we moved the ball good in the first half, then in the second half we kind of got away from that. We got out of focus."
#2 Demarcus Acy, CB
On his Take-aways from game
"We're in a tough three-game losing streak, and we just got to turn it around. It's a good learning curve for us."
On the biggest difference between what was seen on video and what was seen in game
"There really isn't that much difference. We knew what we were facing. We felt like we were matched up athletically, toe-to-toe. It was just a lack of execution on our part."
