Football vs. Arkansas State Postgame Quotes
9/8/2018 7:19:00 PM | Football
Head Coach Nick Saban
Opening statement
"I think we made some improvement in some areas of our team. Obviously, I'm not satisfied completely with where we are, but I was pleased with the way the guys went out there and competed today. We started pretty fast in the game and did a good job early. We made less errors on defense today. They presented a different challenge completely in terms of being spread out and in empty, but we had a really good balance on offense. We did a good job on third down on both sides, which I think is the key to the game, but we are going to continue to try and get our twos back. We need more depth and our team. We need more guys that can have a role. We need more guys that can sub in and fill in and be responsible players. When we put guys in there I felt a little bit of a difference, but overall, it was a good win for us. We need to ramp it up a notch because competition is going to be much more difficult in terms of playing in our league. We certainly have a big challenge opening SEC play on the road this week at Ole Miss."
On the ball distribution from the quarterbacks and their overall performance
"I think both guys did a really good job today. Both guys played well today. We made some big plays in the passing game. We were efficient in terms of what we did. I think we are a little inconsistent at times in our running game; we didn't really finish blocks up front like we would like to all the time and that's something we definitely need to improve on, so we can continue to have the balance when we play against better front guys than we have seen the last two weeks."
On Najee Harris' big day and if there was an extra emphasis to get him the ball
"Not really. We had a plan to play all the guys. It played out that way. Najee made some really good runs and had some big-play opportunities and did a really good job with those. I think all three guys played well. He just had a few opportunities today, and it worked out well for him. He did play well."
#49 Isaiah Buggs, DL
On the team coming out of the gate ready to play
"We have to come out with the same energy every game, every setting, no matter who we are playing. We treat everybody the same. We respect every opponent and know we'll get their best shot each week. We just have to come out and execute. Just like we say all the time – it's all about the 'Bama standard and the 'Bama way, and that's what we played up to today. We took care of business the 'Bama way."
On if the preparation in practice helped lead to this win
"We win the game all throughout the week (with our preparation). The coaches pressure us every day to do our best and work hard every day. No matter what opponent we have each week, we still come out Monday through Friday at practice to compete, get better and give it all we got so that we're ready come Saturday."
#82 Irv Smith Jr., TE
On the balanced offensive attack today
"Yes sir. We were prepared as an offense. We came out and wanted to play fast, have a nice start to the game, and I feel like our offense came together as well as the defense for a complete team win."
On playing at home for the first time this season
"We just wanted to come out and make a statement. We are at home and it's our first home game, so we have to let our fans know and the whole world know what we are capable of doing. I think we can still improve, but I'm happy that we came together for the win."
Head Coach Blake Anderson
Opening statement
"Obviously a huge challenge coming in, we knew. They were as good, or better, than expected, so no surprise there. Considerably the best team I've seen in pads or on film in a long time. I talked to Coach Saban before the game, asked him if he knew of any weaknesses, but he didn't share any with me. You know, the big goal was to come and play perfect football and have the chance to be competitive, and we just didn't. That's the frustrating part. We made too many mistakes. The list is too long to even count, and that's the frustrating part. We cleared it up. We played a lot better in the second half, and I felt like that was an improvement, but this is just something we've got to get fixed. When you play a great team like Alabama, your mistakes are going to get exposed in a big, big way, and that's what happened today. There were a lot of good things that happened. There were some very positive things to take away from the game. I'm not into moral victories, but we'll learn as much as we can, correct as much as we can, and get ready for Tulsa. Luckily, we're not going to play anybody that looks like Alabama for the rest of the year. They'll look a lot more like us. If we can fix the issues and the problems, I think we'll have a chance at having a really good football team, but that's where all of it starts is correcting the mistakes and doing so quickly."
On if he has regrets on not taking any deep shots earlier in the game
"No, none because that's exactly what they want you to do. Playing it safe is about 18 yards deep and getting deeper, and if you watch people, they want you to throw it back there. I think we just didn't execute the plan. I think the plan was the right plan. At times it worked really, really well, and they kind of played our game, that was the whole goal. We just didn't execute it well enough, often enough to put us in a position. That combined with really poor tackling and some mistakes on defense, and you look up and you're 21-0. And so the plan was what we needed to do to be successful. That's why we moved the ball as effectively as we did at times."
On Alabama being 10-15 on third down conversions
"Anytime somebody is over 50 percent, it's a rough day for you. The opponent last week was 2-14, so completely different, but also much more talented, ability to protect, winning some one on one areas that we couldn't, and we just missed some opportunities to get them off the field and we didn't. We had a penalty that gave them an automatic first down. We had a dropped interception that we got them off. We had a bust where two guys went that we weren't supposed to be covering and gives up, so we did a lot of things that were self-inflicted and they executed well when they needed to."
#5, Kendrick Edwards, WR
On his thoughts on game
"We had a perfect game plan going in, but we ended up making more mistakes than them."
On what he thinks is the toughest part of Alabama's defense
"I'd say the toughest part was their D-Line. They got in the quarterback's face a lot."
#34, Darreon Jackson, S
On the types of problems Alabama's offense posed
"I felt like there wasn't any schemes per se, but they caused a lot of miscommunication. They're a good football team. I see why they're No. 1. They're a really good football team. Very athletic. "
On the conversation at halftime
"We came in and Coach said, 'We have to stay positive and keep up the energy. It's never over; there's another whole half left to play.' We came out and tried to do that with the touchdown to start the second half."
