🏈 At 3-0, two shut-outs, and a big SEC road win, this Bama team still not playing up to standards, or

[TerryP]

A few of the things covered in the post game press conference.

Here's the transcript:

• Opening statements:

I think they started the game a bit average today. But as we got into the game, I was really pleased with the way we played, especially offensively. Didn't have a lot of good drives that first quarter. We have a young team and this was a great win for us to come up here with the weather situation, playing on the road, first SEC game. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Arkansas' team. Tough situation with them losing their quarterback and not being able to play. I thought our players still responded and played the way we needed to play on defense. They have a lot of good players and good athletes. I just think that this group has to continue to challenge themselves to ... We didn't manage the situation very well, they didn't improve very much from Game 1 to Game 2. We need to continue to improve as a team. We had way too many penalties today. That's something that will kill you in a close game, cost us some field position. There's a lot of things we need to clean up. I was pleased with the way we moved the ball offensively. Still got some issues in pass protection at times. We tried to work through that. We didn't allow explosive plays. That's what we've always gotten in trouble with these guys. I was pretty pleased with the way the defense played. They did a couple of different things on the option....This group is still learning how to motivate themselves every week and demand to be the best they need to be. They're working on it, I'm working on it, we'll continue to work on it. Hopefully we'll be able to continue to improve.
We did a little bit better job running the ball when we spread them out a little bit. We didn't have much success in breaker formation. They loaded the box and played man to man outside. We spread them out a little bit and did a lot better job. I thought the offensive line did a really good job controlling the line of scrimmage. Runners did a good job of running it. Eddie ran well. So did all of them. They all ran well. I was really pleased with the way we were able to run the ball. I thought it was going to be important in this game to be able to do it with the weather being like it was. That was important for us to be able to accomplish.
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• Can you talk about creating turnovers and how your team becomes offensive once they have the ball?

Before last season, we thought the Saints did a great jopb. They either led the NFL or were close to it, so we went and visited them specifically to how do you coach turnovers. … They not only get the ball out, but every time the ball hit the ground in practice, they had to pick it up and run it down the numbers. And the players broke on the ball. We started doing that in practice. Even when it’s an incomplete pass in 7-on-7, guys pick the ball up and run it down the numbers. All of our players know that’s where it’s going, and that’s been helpful for us in terms of turning some of those turnovers into big plays. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue to do that.
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• On the flip side: The offense only has had one turnover in three games. Can you explain?

We’re practicing that against our offense all the time. We’re ripping and tugging at the ball and guys are trying to pull it out all the time. Ball security is one of the No. 1 factors that we preach, for any offensive player, any skill player. If the guy doesn’t have ball security, you really can’t trust him to play. Everybody’s got to learn to carry the ball right. It really helps when you can compete against each other in practice and guys are trying to make that happen. It makes the offensive guys very aware of what might happen in the game.
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• On nose guard Jesse Williams in the backfield for one goal-line play:

Well, we had that planned since the beginning of camp. We just never used it. And then Jesse got hurt in the Michigan game, and he didn’t play in the next game. And then he got in there today and went the wrong way. (laughs.)

• We thought he was a decoy.

That’s what I said. It worked good.
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• How much attention did you pay last week to the Arkansas QB situation?

We told our players that their quarterback situation was not our problem, and regardless of who played, we would have to play well if Tyler played, and we got ready for all the things they did. We looked at all the plays that 17 (Brandon Mitchell) had when he was a quarter. He played against us some last year. The things that they did with him today were the same things we practiced. They just did it in a different formation, so we didn’t adjust to it as naturally as we would’ve if they had ined up like we practiced. But the players understood the concept, and we were able to adapt in the game. It really is not something we could focus on. We’re really trying to focus on our team getting better and our team playing the way that we need to play. Our players understood that whichever quarterback was in the game, these are the things that they would try to do, and we needed to try to stop them. So I was pleased with the way our guys responded.
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• A lot of your players farther down on the depth chart played extensively. How meaningful is that?

I think it’s great for the players. All of these guys want to play. They work hard. They deserve to play. We love to get them to play. We wanted to get an opportunity for the other quarterbacks to get an opportunity to play with the first line and the first receivers, in case they ever have to do that if something happens to AJ. I was real happy. We played everybody that we could play today, I think.
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• Does it become more difficult to get your team to focus on mistakes and get better when you walk out with a score like this?

I hope we learned something the last time, because I don’t think there was a player on our team that thought we improved at all from the Michigan game to the Western Kentucky game. We didn’t practice very well. We didn’t prepare very well, and it affected a lot of guys/’ performances in the game, and some of them were embarrassed by it, regardless of the score. So hopefully we’ll have a little better disposition psychologically about how we approach what we need to do in the next game. And it’s not just about the next game. It’s about getting the team better and a player understanding the individual responsibility that he has to be able to go out there and do their job. I yelled more at the second team than I did at the first team, because those guys – we practice all that stuff and then we don’t go out there and do it right in the game. They don’t get prepared, they don’t do as well on their tests, because they don’t think they’re going to play. Well, you’re one play from playing, and then we’ve got to count on you. Can we count on you? And if you have no other motivation in the world, your motivation should be, ‘I don’t want to be the guy who screws up.’ Well, the only way you can do it is prepare right. So you’ve got young guys that have to learn by doing it, and hopefully they’ll learn. It does them good when they get their butt chewed. … It helps their mental toughness, I think.
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Did AJ McCarron injure his hand?

He got stepped on on the fumbled snap on the goal line, but he’s fine. He played with it. It didn’t bother him. He could have continued to play if we needed him to. It’s bruised.
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• Is there a major difference in this Arkansas team compared to a few years back?

I think everybody should have a tremendous amount of understanding for Arkansas’ circumstances. Tyler Wilson is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and the whole program is built around the guy. The whole team is built around the guy, in terms of what they do on offense. They’re really good when he’s playing. They were really good last year, and they were really good this year, up until he got hurt. And I’m sure it’s difficult for their players to know that here’s the guy who’s the leader on our team that can take our team to the promised land, and now he’s not out there playing. The whole team is built around him: what they do on offense, how their players are selected … the whole thing. And now he’s not there. The other guys have to go in there, and it’s an opportunity for them to do the job, but I think when he comes back, Arkansas’ going to have a really good football team, and I think defensively, they play with a lot of toughness and a lot of effort. I think they got wore down a little bit today.