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Matt Zenitz | mzenitz@al.com
"Considerably the best team I've seen in pads or on film in a long time."
Arkansas coach Blake Anderson and a couple Red Wolves players met with the media Saturday evening after the team's loss to Alabama.
Here is a rundown of what they said:
Blake Anderson
-- "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 regrets 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 for 15 on third down conversions: "Anytime somebody is over 50 percent, it's a rough day for you. The opponent last week was 2 for 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."
Wide receiver Kendrick Edwards
On the 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."
Safety Darreon Jackson
-- On Alabama's offense: "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."
What Arkansas State said after loss to Alabama
Arkansas coach Blake Anderson and a couple Red Wolves players met with the media Saturday evening after the team's loss to Alabama.
Here is a rundown of what they said:
Blake Anderson
-- "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 regrets 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 for 15 on third down conversions: "Anytime somebody is over 50 percent, it's a rough day for you. The opponent last week was 2 for 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."
Wide receiver Kendrick Edwards
On the 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."
Safety Darreon Jackson
-- On Alabama's offense: "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."
What Arkansas State said after loss to Alabama
