Football vs. Tennessee Postgame Quotes
10/20/2019 12:27:00 AM | Football
Head Coach Nick Saban
Opening statement
"I'm really proud of our guys and the way they competed in the game. They kept fighting and had to overcome a lot of adversity. It was a huge swing in the first half when we had a first-in-goal for Tua and we threw a pick, when we actually had a chance to go up to 14-0. Then they (Tennessee) run it back 50 yards and score a touchdown on that drive, so that was a big swing. (Trevon) Digg's return for a touchdown on fourth-and-one was a huge swing. It was a great goal line stand by our players down there to even be in that situation. But I was really pleased with the way our guys grinded it out and found a way to win.
I thought Najee (Harris) really ran the ball well in the game. The offensive line did a good job on the direct runs. That really was helpful to us. This is the first time we really had to grind one out. We really had to make plays.
I think the defense played a lot better, except for one situation in the game, which was third down. We had too many opportunities to get off the field on third down. I think they were 7-of-15 on third down, which kept a lot of their drives going and helped them maintain possession of the ball.
Mac (Jones) did some good things and we think he is capable, so we have a lot of confidence in Mac. I think the players have a lot of confidence in Mac. Tua will probably be out for a week. I don't know the extent. He has a twisted ankle, but I think he's probably not going to be able to play for us next game. I know he's going to get another MRI in the morning. Then they'll decide exactly what to do from there. Will Reichard may have reinjured himself. He said he wasn't hurting while punting but was a little skeptical about kicking. He punted in pregame fine. We don't know the extent to that injury.
But I thought it was a great atmosphere out there. Tonight our fans were really supportive, great spirit and energy in the stadium. I kind of like the lights and all of that. I know someone is going to ask me about that. As long as they have the good ones on when we are playing, I'm good. They seem to do a good job with choreographing all of that."
On the movement of the offensive line
"I thought they did a good job, especially on the direct runs. We seem to have more trouble running the ball on the edges, trying to run the ball on the edges. The direct runs were really good for us. If we do that, that means our backs are getting north and south. I thought they did a really good job of that."
On Ty Perine's performance
"What did you see from him? I saw him punt two punts, and he punted them really well. Really well. We are happy to see that. He is a guy that is just a walk-on that has gotten better throughout the course of the year, and we felt that it was time for him to get an opportunity based on the struggles we have had on that position, and he responded very well."
#7 Trevon Diggs, DB
On the fumble return for a touchdown
"Our defensive line did a great job stopping them on the interior and making them try to go over the top. When the quarterback tries to go over the top, that's when the ball tends to come loose. One of the guys did a great job of poking the ball out, and then I just scooped and scored. It was a big momentum swing for us as a defense."
On the overall defensive performance
"I'm happy with the way the defense is going right now. We battled and fought all night. We faced a little adversity, but we stood in there when we needed to. It was a hard-fought game, and I'm happy we got the win."
#18 Slade Bolden, WR
On his touchdown pass
"We practiced it all week, and it's one of those plays you hope to run. So, when the timing is right, it happens to get called. I'm just glad everybody executed up front. The linemen did a great job and Miller (Forristall) made a good catch. The play just worked out perfectly. I loved celebrating with my teammates. It was just a great experience overall."
On wanting to throw the ball from the Wildcat formation
"Of course I wanted to throw it; I'm a quarterback at heart. I was a quarterback in high school, so I always want to throw the ball when I get a chance to. I'm staying patient and humble, so whenever my number is called, I'll make the play."
Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt
Opening Statement
"I think our guys learned a lot about themselves tonight. I couldn't be happier with their effort that they tried to play with. We made some very critical mistakes in the game. For starters, we get a holding call in the red area when the ball is down there close to the goal line. We turned the ball over on fourth and, I don't know, two inches, at the goal line. We get them stopped and get a penalty there on third down that they turned into points. We made some mistakes early on in the game in the secondary and gave them some opportunities, but you have to give those guys credit. They took advantage of it. They made some throws out there. They created some positive things in the special teams, but I thought offensively, our offensive line ran the ball better than they probably have all year. I don't know what the statistics are, but we got some push in there, and we created some explosive runs against a good defense. It's really positive, our backs hit it up in there. We made some explosive plays in the throw game. I know there were a lot of jump balls out there. We had a chance right there going into the fourth quarter to cut it down to one score, and we didn't take advantage of our opportunity, so we had a couple of chances there. There's lots of lessons we need to learn as a football team."
On the team's expectations to compete with Alabama
"Well that's why we came down here. We didn't come down here to do anything else but compete. I would have liked to see us not make some mistakes to see where this thing would have went in the end, but unfortunately we made some mistakes. We can't do that against a good football team."
On the fumble near the end
"It wasn't deflating. It pissed me off. I don't know about you, but it pissed me off because we just put a great drive together. And really ran the ball with will down through there. I would have liked to see us get the ball in there and seen what we could have done. There's lots of things that didn't go our way in the game. Some of it we controlled, some of it we didn't. So we'll watch the tape, we'll learn from it, and go from there."
#9 Tim Jordan, RB
On playing physically and what that looks like for the rest of the season
"I always give credit to the line. They did play their ass off tonight and just as a team, as a whole offense, I feel like we played hard. Of course we made mistakes today."
On the fumble Alabama returned all the way
"It was critical. It hurt. But at the end of the day, we just have to move past mistakes and correct them for the next week."
On having their starting quarterback have to leave the game in back-to-back weeks
"I mean at the end of the day we practice and we compete and at that position they do the same thing as every other position. So when he goes down it's the next man up, and we expect the same productivity from the next guy."
#18 Nigel Warrior, DB
On how he thought the defense played
"I think the defense played pretty well. We can do better, of course, we gave a little bit too much. We gave up big plays that we know for a fact what was going on and we gave that up and we shouldn't have gave that up. But I think the defense played really well."
On the interception during Alabama's second offensive drive
"It was a blessing. I mean me and Bryce, number 20, we looked at each other, my tight end, he came across the field and Bryce ended up taking it and I just squared up and I looked at the quarterback and he was throwing the ball so I did what I had to do."
