| GAME THREAD CITRUS BOWL : Alabama vs Michigan - January 1st, 12 PM, ABC TV
- Thread starter TerryP
- Start date
B
Bama News
Citrus Bowl: Alabama OC Steve Sarkisian, WR DeVonta Smith talk Michigan game
Read what Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and wide receiver DeVonta Smith said at Citrus Bowl media day on Sunday.
www.wvtm13.com
ORLANDO, Fla. —
Read what Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and wide receiver DeVonta Smith said at Citrus Bowl media day on Sunday.
Click or tap here to see the Crimson Tide Citrus Bowl media guide.
Advertisement
Click or tap here to see Alabama's arrival in Orlando.
CITRUS BOWL: WHAT THEY SAID
STEVE SARKISIAN: Happy holidays, everyone. It's really exciting time to be in Orlando here. I think we really appreciate the Citrus Bowl and all the activities and events they've put on for our players. I think they've had a nice week here of a little bit of time and reward for the season.
I think our preparation has gone well leading up to a very tough challenge. Michigan is a very good defense, I think seventh ranked defense in the country. So we know we've got a tall task ahead of us. I think our players have worked extremely hard. We've got to kind of fine tune the final pieces of this thing over the next couple of days and get ready to play a very good football team here on January 1.
Q. What impresses each of you, starting with DeVonta, about the Michigan secondary?
DEVONTA SMITH: Just how crafty they are. They can switch it up. They can be physical. They can be patient and adjust in the things that they do. They switch it up, keep you guessing, and have you just wondering, like, ‘OK, what is he going to do this time?’
STEVE SARKISIAN: I think from a scheme standpoint, I think Coach Brown does an excellent job. They've got a lot of man to man principles they play. And, as DeVonta said, they're crafty at corner. I think 24 and 1 are both crafty in their man to man skills. But they do a really good job in their scheme of mixing it up, mixing up different zone coverages, zone covers that match up in the man coverages. So I think the challenge for the wideouts is their releases and how they're running specific routes. And then also for the quarterback, because of the variations of coverages, the quarterback's got to be on point of where his progression and his where his reads need to go.
Q. We just talked with Coach Gattis. How influential is he in your development as a receiver?
DEVONTA SMITH: Well, I mean, every receiver coach that came here has taught all of us something different. So it's just dependent on the type of coach they are. He's more of the technical one, so he kind of taught us more of the technical things of being a receiver.
Q. Where have you seen Mac improve the most throughout the season? And since he took over as a starter, how has he made this team his own?
STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, I think anytime you're a backup quarterback, we do a really good job, in my opinion Coach Saban does a great job in practice of getting our ones and twos a lot of reps and quality reps. But there is something to be said about when you're the one and you're taking those reps in practice and then applying it to the game. A lot of times, when you're the backup, you work all week and you may not get in in that ball game.
So I think Mac's done an excellent job from when he got thrown in against Tennessee, that's a different formula. And then all of a sudden you get the week to prepare. You become the starter against Arkansas and you get those reps, you get those looks, and then you go out and perform, I think it naturally just builds confidence.
And with his confidence, that has built, in my opinion, throughout the year with Mac. I think the confidence in his teammates for him has grown. I think the receivers, the offensive line, all of a sudden those guys see No. 10 going there and making throws – make throws against Auburn, where guys are breathing down his face at critical moments on third down – getting conversions. So I think that's where he's grown. I think he's translated the practice to the game, built his own confidence and then, in turn, that's built the confidence in his teammates in him as well.
Q. Steve, there was an opportunity or a chance that you could have been hit hard with guys not playing in this game. One, what was your reaction when you found out you were going to have pretty much a full arsenal; and, two, what do you think it says about the mindset of this team that those guys that made those decisions as they enter this game?
STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, obviously, having been here for a year now, you start to learn not just the player in the jersey, you start to learn the character of the players we have, especially on offense, the guys I deal with the most. And these are highly competitive guys now and these guys strive for excellence. They work extremely hard every day. They come to meetings attentive, attention to detail. But at the end of the day, it's the competitive spirit I think all these guys have. And for us to have all these guys playing in the game offensively are needed. We're going against a very good defense.
But, also, I just think it speak volumes to the type of character kids we have. I'm proud of the work that they've done all year and I'm excited to have these guys go out and play and perform and compete on the first.
Q. DeVonta, since you came in with the same class, what it's been like for you the last three years going against Xavier in practice.
DEVONTA SMITH: Just knowing that you have the other side being just as competitive as you. He's a perfectionist, so like he always wants things to be perfect. And I know that if I'm going out to practice, I know he's going to match my intensity every day. So just going out there, having that just makes both of us better.
Q. Steve, I imagine your paths crossed with Jim Harbaugh when you were at Washington. Could you describe your relationship and your interactions with him and your impressions?
STEVE SARKISIAN: I think Jim is an excellent football coach. I mean, he's done it on every level, from University of San Diego, to Stanford, to the 49ers, now with Michigan. I mean, he's a fantastic coach, very intense guy.
The one thing you know, his teams always play hard. They're physical. They're tough and well coached, good schemes. I saw it as a head coach from both sides of the ball. Obviously, I'm seeing it now from a defensive perspective. But I imagine that they play well and coached well on offense and physical outfit. So really good coach. Really good competitor. Excited for the challenge to go against him again.
Q. Steve, now your second time back at Alabama, what would be your reflections when you think back on the 2019 season as offensive coordinator?
STEVE SARKISIAN: It was a tremendous experience. Like I said, I'm fortunate. I get to go to work every day with really good people, from the top down, from Coach Saban, to our offensive staff, to our players. I mean, these guys are fun to coach. They want to be great. We try to push them every day, not only from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint. We put things on them at a very high level, and they've responded.
So I'm just appreciative of the opportunity that Coach Saban's given me to come back. And it's been a joy to coach these guys. They are highly, highly competitive young men. There's always going to be that kind of sour taste in your mouth in some capacity because we felt like we missed a couple opportunities in games that we really feel like we should have and could have won. Unfortunately, we didn't get that done. So the reality of it is, we get one more opportunity to go show what we're about offensively and I think our guys are going to be ready to play.
Q. DeVonta, what have you seen out of Josh Jobe this year? He's an emotional player, obviously. How have you seen him kind of balance the passion that he plays with but also being disciplined?
DEVONTA SMITH: With Josh, I feel that it's just the will to want to play this game and just the passion he has for it. So with Josh, he goes out there, he practices hard every day. And that's just him wanting to do it. So he may get frustrated at times when things don't go his way, but it's not because he's a bad person. It's because he loves playing football.
Q. Steve, Jim has had to make an adjustment from pro style more to a spread. Can you talk about the challenges that go into that from your personal experience? And then, also, how much is that a necessity now because players, you know, only stay maybe three years and go off to the league if they're really good?
STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, you know, I've lived that life all the way back to my days as assistant at SC, we were a total pro style offense. And we kind of made the transition in my last couple of years at Washington, was in kind of the spread, opened up, shotgun world there. Obviously, going to Atlanta the last couple years, it was back to the pro style, but we started to incorporate even more of the spread kind of principles there in the National Football League.
When you watch us play and I'm sure when you watch Michigan, the little bit I've seen of them is, it is spread principles. It is shotgun. But if you dig down deep into it, there's a little of pro style offense still involved in what we do and involved in what they do. And I think that's the fine line. That's the balance because you want to be successful. Our job is to put our players in the best position to be successful on game day.
But, ultimately, their development as a player is critical too. And your intent and your attitude, your football team, I think you know, one of the challenges, if you just keep throwing it and throwing it and throwing it, you start to lose some of that foundation as a physical football team, the ability to run the football, the ability to play action pass, to throw the ball down the field. So there is a fine line.
And week to week that varies, obviously, based upon your opponent. I'm definitely a firm believer in the more you do really well, the harder you are to defend. Hopefully when you watch us, you can see a real spread type offense but yet you can see a football team that can still line up and run downhill at you and then everything in between. And I'm sure they're in that process. I know Coach Gattis is an excellent coach and he's got a lot of the background from here as well. So I think that makes it tough to defend, when you can do it really well. And it's been a great process for me. I've been fortunate throughout my career to be around really good coaches, really good players to evolve kind of to where we are today.
Q. Coach Brown called you guys, like, the top three to five receiving group that he thinks he's ever coached against. What do you think sets you guys apart, both on and off the field?
DEVONTA SMITH: Just how, one, the passion that we have for it and just the will to want to go out there and dominate. Just we're out there. We're going to try and just play, not only for us but for everybody. So just like we always try to be we're one of the smaller receiver groups and we always try to be physical and try to play bigger than what we are. So I just feel like just the will to want to do it.
STEVE SARKISIAN: I'll follow up with that.
I think these guys have an extremely high football IQ. Not only are they physically gifted, not only are they really great competitors, they're tough, their football IQ is really high. And as a coach, that makes it enjoyable to coach them because you can put different things on them. You can move them around. You can coach conceptually rather than just one person, ‘This is what you do on this play.’ And these guys eat it up.
And it starts with guys like Smithy and Ruggs and Jerry, but it works its way down throughout the entire group with Waddle, Shavers, Slade Bolden, Metchie, you know, Ziggy. All these guys have started to embrace this, it's bigger than just me releasing at the line of scrimmage. It's big picture. It's scheme. And that makes it fun for us to coach.
Q. Steve, you've known Tua a long time. What was your reaction, obviously, seeing him suffer that injury, and how have you seen him rebound so far the last several weeks?
STEVE SARKISIAN: I think I could speak probably for all of us. I mean, we're all hurt for him. You know, Tua, for those of you who don't know him and some of you in the room do know him, and he's the guy, when he walks into the room, he lights it up. It doesn't matter if it's the training room, the locker room, the practice field, the equipment room, the coach's office, that guy is a true leader. Everybody knows the work ethic and the desire and the competitiveness he has. So I think we're all very hurt.
And I think the odd part is and Coach Saban had mentioned this even right after he got hurt when I reached out to him after the game, it felt like he was picking me up and that's just him. He's so positive. He's so upbeat. And that's how he's been throughout his rehab now. He's in really good spirits. I don't think there's a guy who supports Mac more than Tua. But that's who the guy is. And, you know, wherever his future holds for him, this guy's going to be successful in life. And I think, as coaches, that's all you can ask for.
Q. (Inaudible.)
STEVE SARKISIAN: I'd like to coach him forever, you know, but that's the nature of our business. You know, you recruit players. Players come in, you try to develop them as best you can, have a lot of team success and, ultimately, individual success so that then they can go on and move on in life and be successful humans, and then you bring in new people. So, you know, like I said, he's a fantastic human. And forget just N 13 on the field. It's who he is off the field that I think is probably more impressive.
B
Bama News
Alabama vs. Michigan: Citrus Bowl Fearless Prediction, Game Preview
Alabama vs. Michigan: VRBO Citrus Bowl fearless prediction and game preview. Alabama vs. Michigan: Citrus Bowl Broadcast Date: January 1, 2020 Game Time: 1:00 ET Live Stream: fuboTV (click to watch…
collegefootballnews.com
Alabama (10-2) vs. Michigan (9-3) Game Preview
Three Reasons Why You Should Watch The VRBO Citrus Bowl
– Really, is there a more fascinating matchup this bowl season? The storylines are huge, from Alabama being in a bowl game that doesn’t really matter for the first time since 2013, to Jim Harbaugh getting a chance to win ten games for the fourth time in five seasons, to Harbaugh getting a chance at a massive-name win to shut everyone up, to Nick Saban trying to salvage something out of a season that crashed and burned at Auburn, to this being just the fifth time these two kids have hooked up, to …
It’s Michigan vs. Alabama on New Year’s Day.
A dud for several years – seven straight Citrus Bowls were decided by ten points or more from 2011 to 2016 – the last two were fantastic with Notre Dame stunning LSU 21-17 to kick off 2018, and Kentucky getting by Penn State 27-24 in last season’s showdown.
One way or another, this will be a bowl everyone will be talking about.
– Michigan had a fine year, but not a special one. For all the screaming and yelling about Harbaugh’s inability to get the program over the hump and to the College Football Playoff – or even to get by Ohio State – but this would be a big deal.
This might be a bit of a wounded Alabama team – at least in terms of pride – but so what? Pull this off, and again, four ten-win seasons in five years – and six in his last seven years as a college coach going back to his 12-1 final year at Stanford in 2010 – would be outstanding.
And to bust through an ugly bowl run with a win over the Crimson Tide would be even better.
Michigan has lost its last three bowls under Harbaugh – including last year’s Peach in a 41-15 dumping against Florida – and the program has dropped five of its last six and ten of its last 13 after beating the Gators in the 2003 Outback.
– If you include College Football Playoff semifinal games as bowls, the last nine post-season games Alabama has played in has involved the season’s national champion. To take this further, the national champion has played in 12 of the last 14 Bama bowl games going back to the 2009 Sugar.
After the 2007 Independence Bowl, Alabama hasn’t played in anything other than an A-list bowl/CFP games under Saban, who has gone 11-5 in the post-season since he’s been at Bama.
This year’s team lost by five to LSU and – despite outplaying Auburn in several ways – dropped the Iron Bowl by three. That’s it.
Win, and this becomes a blip of a season that might have been different if Tua Tagovailoa hadn’t been injured. Lose, and considering the way last year ended with the blowout loss to Clemson, this is going to be a rough offseason.
Why Michigan Will Win
– Let’s just address the Crimson Tide elephant in the room. Yes, more players than LB Terrell Lewis and S Trevon Diggs should declare early for the NFL and not risk injury, but no, there isn’t the mass exodus of talent it seemed like there would be considering this isn’t a playoff game.
Yes, star receivers Jerry Jeudy, DeVonta Smith and Henry Ruggs appear to be playing, as will top back Najee Harris, safety Xavier McKinney, and a few other defensive players and offensive linemen.
How much will they be worrying about protecting themselves? The mere fact that they have millions on the line could be just that slightest of extra edges in intensity that Michigan needs.
That might be a bit of a reach, this isn’t as easy as the future NFL stars make it out to be.
– The Alabama receiving corps has to be considered among the deepest and most talented in college football history. The Michigan targets aren’t at that level, but they’re terrific, too.
Bama’s secondary hasn’t faced too many big-time passers this year, but it was rocked by Joe Burrow in the loss to LSU, got hit hard by Kellen Mond in the win over Texas A&M, and gave up 324 yards to South Carolina’s Ryan Hilinski and three touchdown passes in the win over Ole Miss.
Michigan’s Shea Patterson ended his regular season with three straight 300-yard games as he started to make more and more plays down the field.
He wasn’t helped by his receivers in the Ohio State loss, but overall he’s been sharp. In his final game – and his first against Bama since having a nightmare of a time in the 66-3 loss in 2017 as the Ole Miss starter – this is his chance to go out with something positive.
– Alabama lost two games this season. In the first against LSU, the offense converted on 40% of its third down chances. Against Auburn, the O hit on 43% of its tries.
Those were the only two games this year when the offense failed to hit the 50% mark. 10-0 when above 50%, 0-2 when below …
Ohio State was the only team to covert more than half of its third down tries against this Michigan D, and Indiana was the only other team – 42% – to hit the 40% mark. Bama will have a hard time winning the control battle if it can’t own the tempo.
Why Alabama Will Win
– Michigan got hammered for well over 11 yards per pass and four scores in the loss to Ohio State. It allowed three touchdown passes in the loss to Penn State, and Wisconsin’s Jack Coan went 13-of-16 against this group.
Throw in the two touchdown passes from Ian Book in the blowout win over Notre Dame, and Michigan has struggled against the good passing games, and fattened up on the mediocre ones. All of the superstar Alabama wide receivers are going to be out there, and Michigan won’t be able to handle them.
– The Bama secondary might be beatable if Shea Patterson gets hot, but it’ll also win its share of battles. Joe Burrow was the only quarterback to hit more than seven yards per throw, and six of the last seven passing games the Tide faced failed to connect on 60% of their throws – Burrow being the outlier.
The secondary gave up 14 touchdown passes and picked off 15 throws. Michigan can’t win this if it’s not close to perfect.
– Is Mac Jones really ready for this? The new Tide starting quarterback wasn’t the reason Alabama lost to Auburn, but the two pick-sixes were disastrous. Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? However, he threw for 335 passing yards and four scores against against the terrific Tiger defense, and now he’s had even more practice time with the ones to get up to speed.
No pressure or anything, but a bad performance means the Crimson Tide quarterback derby becomes one of the biggest things going in the offseason. He’s going to get time to operate, though, behind a line that’s great at keeping sacks and pressures to a minimum.
What’s Going To Happen
This is the exact type of game Jim Harbaugh loses.
In his Michigan career, he has just one loss against a team that didn’t win ten games or more – the one aberration was a 14-13 walk-off against an Iowa squad that ripped up Ohio State.
Alabama won’t be mopey, and at least outwardly, this team appears to have the mindset that it wants to come up with something special after the way the Auburn game ended.
If Alabama has a B+ performance, forget it. Michigan won’t have the ability to hold down all the weapons and all the scoring, even with Mac Jones under center.
It’ll take a few big takeaways and a wild shootout to pull this off, and the Wolverines won’t be able to do it.
Alabama will be happy it won the VRBO Citrus, even if it really wanted to be the College Football Playoff No. 4 seed.
Alabama vs. Michigan: Citrus Prediction, Line
Alabama 36, Michigan 23
-
Alabama -7, o/u: 58.5
-
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3.5
im4uainva
Member
Yes, but not to the point where the 'Penalty Hydra Monster' raises it's ugly heads and undoes all of the good things Bama may had done. I am so weary of having had to share the Bama games with that monstrosity.
ROLL TIDE!
planomateo
Member
The first 5 mins is just the coaches talking about what a great opportunity this is, etc.
With regards to NFL evaluations, he mentioned 9 guys were evaluated and some have 1st round grades.
Jim Harbaugh is painful to listen to most of the time.
With regards to NFL evaluations, he mentioned 9 guys were evaluated and some have 1st round grades.
Jim Harbaugh is painful to listen to most of the time.
planomateo
Member
planomateo
Member
Jersey info for the game
Let's Roll Today! BEAT MICHIGAN!!!
I am getting to watch the game today with my dad in Florence. Yesterday, mom was released from rehab and I drove them home from Ohio. Blessed man today.
-
Thread '⚾ South Alabama vs Alabama: 6:00 p.m. CT – SEC Network+'
Snell's walk-off gives the Tide the W- UA Press Release
- Replies: 15
-
-
-
🔗 The Tide and the NFL Draft
Tyler Booker attracting a lot of attention: expected to "shine" at the combine.- OldPlayer
- Replies: 129
