Football vs. Ole Miss Postgame Quotes
9/28/2019 7:09:00 PM | Football
Head Coach Nick Saban
Opening statement
"I guess a win is a win. We did some very good things out there today, but we also didn't play some things very well. I think it's pretty obvious that we left some money on the table on offense. We had some plays that we could have made that we didn't make. We made a lot of plays. Smitty (DeVonta Smith) obviously had a great day. Tua (Tagovailoa) was good today. We ran the ball fairly effectively. We didn't probably keep the ball as much as we need to. We didn't get off the field on defense when we had opportunities, and that allowed them to extend drives and keep the ball. We didn't stop the run very well on defense. We gave up a couple explosive plays at the end of the game. We're really giving other people opportunities to play, but those people need to play. We probably ought to protect them a little bit in those situations as well. I think you can look at the bye week a couple of different way. You can say it's a week off or you can look at a bye week and say, 'There's a lot of things we need to improve on.' That's certainly the approach we want to take with our team. I always say that if you win and don't play well, that's not really a good thing. That's something our team needs to understand and our team needs to know. Also, that we can improve. I think that people have to have the disposition that they want to go out and try to improve this week. We didn't obviously play a complete game. We got exposed in some areas where we didn't play very well. And we've got to get those things fixed and play better. Players we have are the players we have. They are all capable of playing better, so we want to work with them. And we are excited to work with them, so we can get better. We are looking forward to what we have to do to improve as a team."
On DeVonta Smith getting the ball
"We don't say Smitty (DeVonta Smith) is going to have 11 catches today for 200 something yards. We don't say that Jerry Jeudy is going to catch eight passes today for 80 something yards. You read what the defense does when you have a pass play, and then you decide which guy you are supposed to throw the ball to base on the coverages that they are playing. Some days (Henry) Ruggs makes big plays. Some days Smitty makes big plays. Some days Jerry Jeudy makes big plays. Smitty did a great job of running after the catch today on a couple of those big plays. He made a great catch on the fade ball in the end zone. Smitty is a very, very good player. He is a hard worker, and he got his today. He had opportunities, and he got them. We had a couple other opportunities with some other players, and we missed on some big plays, which hopefully we will be able to make those in the future."
On his assessment of the team after five weeks
"We have had some adversity to overcome. Obviously we are playing some young guys on defense. We are not really satisfied with the way we are playing defense right now, especially today. Especially not being able to stop the run effectively, which is something we have always been able to do around here pretty well. I think that's a team thing. I don't think it's about the defensive line or just about the linebackers. It's how you play on the perimeter, how you tackle on the perimeter, how you contain the ball, how you run to the ball. We need to improve. I think offensively we have been very, very productive, but we need to be able to not only control the tempo of the game, with offense, we have got to control the clock and the plays with the offense. Again, today we play 60 something plays of offense and 88 plays of defense. When you win 59 to whatever, and you score 59 points, it's no different than South Carolina, when we scored 47 points. We played 90 plays of defense. If you are really controlling the game, then that shouldn't happen. We need to do a better job in that area, although we have been very productive on offense, but if we play 20 more plays on defense every game that we play the cumulative effect of that is times 12, so that's a lot of plays. That's a lot of wear and tear on a lot of players. We have already lost some players and hopefully we will get a few of those guys back, maybe sometime later on. Terrell (Lewis) was able to play a little bit today, which we were happy about that, but it is always going to be a little bit of day-to-day with how he can go about what he has to do."
#33 Anfernee Jennings, LB
On the youth of the defense
"We definitely know we have a young defense. A lot of times, everyone tries their best to communicate and do their job, no matter who it is. We just try to make plays and make the right calls."
On growing into the leadership role on defense
"I've played a lot of football here, and I just try to be someone that the younger guys can look up to. I try my best to communicate the right calls and be a leader out there."
#13 Tua Tagovailoa, QB
On setting the touchdown responsibility record and what it says about him
"I don't think it says too much about me; I think it says a lot about the guys that I'm surrounded with. I think today was good and bad for us offensively. To me, it was more bad because we had a lot of opportunities to start drives but had a lot of penalties – whether it was emotion or a guy lining up – just little things that we can fix. The good: I think the O-line did a really good job for us today. They gave me an opportunity to step up and make plays with my arm. I think the running game was really good, as well.
On the bye week
"I think a bye week is really good, especially against a team like this. This is our SEC opener at home. I think the rest will be good for our games down the road, both defensively and offensively."
Head Coach Matt Luke
Opening statement
"Tough loss. Got to give credit to Alabama. They're a good football team – very explosive on offense, as we knew going in. We tried several different things – some zone and playing off of them, and we tried to press them and bring some pressure. Give them credit. They executed. We tried to run the ball early to try to make this a four-quarter game, but the middle of the second quarter got away from us, and we never recovered. Proud of the guys. They kept battling and competing. We'll move forward and get better."
On competing better in the first quarter given how the games have gone the past two years
"We came here to win. There are no excuses. The thing we've got to do is build on some of the positives out there, like some of the guys out there competing, some of the young guys making plays. We've got to build on that, but there are a lot of things we've got to get corrected, too. There were some times we got beat in some one-on-ones, but there were some times we were out of position and not doing the things we needed to do. So there's a lot of getting better that we have to do, but let's build on the positives to get better."
On covering Alabama's wide receivers
"It's tough. We knew it was going to be a challenge coming in, and all you can do is try to mix up your coverage. You play off to keep them from running by you, and they break tackles, and they had a long run the first drive of the game. And you press them and they throw it over the top of you. So you've just got to continue to keep mixing it up, and try to stay out of one-on-ones as much as possible. But they have one of the best collections of wide receivers I've ever played against, so a lot of credit to them for executing. They've got a quarterback that's very accurate, which helps."
#1 Lakia Henry, ILB
On how tough it is to slow down Alabama's offense
"It's pretty tough. They're a well-coached team. It was kind of tough, but we just have to maintain and get better."
On how Ole Miss rotates through players (and how that helps when players get injured)
"It helps because it keeps a lot of us fresh. But, for the most part, we just have to get healthy, so we need most of those players back; we just need to get healthy."
#10 John Rhys Plumlee, QB
On when he knew he would be starting this game
"Matt (Corral) has just been seeing every day, day-to-day with his rib, you know, is healing up, getting better. Later into the week was when I figured out that it was going to be me."
On all the true freshmen that saw action today and how good can this class be
"I think we have a lot of talent. For sure, like I said if we can work on the little things and get really good at the little things then I think we have the potential to be really special."
