'I got a lot of things testing my patience': Alabama head coach Nick Saban on matchup with Ole Miss

How are we doing? Good. You know, we sort of told the players that, you know, we believe in our team, uh, and it was important for them to believe in each other. But there's *** responsibility that goes to that belief in terms of being accountable to do your job, play with discipline, you know, try to play with the kind of toughness and physicality that we want to play with as *** team and, uh eliminate, you know, the my bads, uh that have been really critical and us being successful and I thought the team did *** fantastic job of that in the second half. I mean, we played hard, the guys competed, um played really physical, dominated the line of scrimmage. So got off the field on third down on defense and kept them off the board. So I was really proud of the way the team played in the second half, first half. You know, we got first and one at the one and snap the ball before the snap count, lose *** bunch of yards, you know, take points off the board. So those are the kind of things to me, we had another touchdown the day that was called back because of *** penalty. That's the fifth one this year. So, I mean, those are the kind of lessons um that we want to continue to teach our team, uh, so that we can continue to improve and get better and they can develop the kind of confidence and trust in each other and themselves so that, you know, we can play better and we can, you know, play better week in and week out and do it every game that we play. So, um but man, guys played hard competed, hard. Um These guys are hard to play against, they do *** lot of formations, *** lot of motions, thought our guys did *** pretty good job of adjusting to it in the game and especially did *** good job in the second half. So, really pleased, you know, I thought Jalen played um really, really well. Um You know, they play trap down there and uh you guys don't know what that is but, you know, somebody zones off in the flat and everybody's playing man to man, something we do something Pete does and got fooled by that when he threw the interception. But other than that, I thought he really played well. Um You know, he got *** little dinged up but he'd be fine and I thought he showed *** lot of leadership out there, uh made some good throws, made some, we made some explosive plays. So um we got to continue to try to create opportunities for our players down the field. Yeah, J's, uh, turnover was in the first half for this game in Texas last year. His turnovers were in the first half. What would have stood out about his ability to respond to adversity and keep playing? Well, I think that's the one thing that, you know, guys learned. I think, you know, if you ask him, it'd probably say he got *** little bit affected by the first interception in Texas game, but you have to learn that you have to go play the next play. You know, you can't let one play lead to several bad plays and as much as, and, you know, you're *** point guard so you can't turn the ball over and you got to get assist and if you have one turnover don't let it lead to two and just keep executing and believing and trusting in what you're doing so that you can continue to distribute the ball where you need to, which I think he's growing and done *** really good job of that. There were three consecutive plays in the third quarter that the team showed *** lot of toughness. Jalen standing in the pocket, took *** big shot throws *** touchdown tie runs through *** face mask, two point comparison. Then jam, even though he got kicked out of the game has *** big hit, sort of energized the sideline in terms of competitive character that set the tone, you know, I think the momentum of the game and those course of the plays that you described right there, you know, really shifted uh for us, uh The energy went up and I think that uh was demonstrated by how we continue to play the rest of the game. So, um II, I was, I'm always happy to see guys make those kind of plays. We saw *** lead in the second quarter. Yeah, he's got *** sprained ankle. Uh, he's gonna be day to day. Uh, it's pretty good one, so nobody knows exactly how long it'll take for him to respond. So, um, that's all I can tell you about that one coach, the run game was impressive today. What did you think out of that? And, and did it result to the practice that you guys did during the week or how did, how did that come to the field? Yeah. Well, I, I think we, we know we got to create balance on offense. We gotta be able to run the ball, we got to be able to throw play action passes and take shots like we hit *** couple of big plays on the day and, but we got to be more efficient in the passing game as well. I mean, we still had four sacks the day. We got too many drive stoppers penalties, whatever. Um, we got to continue to clean it up, so we can stay ahead of the sticks. I think you can always play better offense when you can stay ahead of the sticks. So that's what we're going to keep working on, trying to improve on how much does come into play on your part when you're grooming *** quarterback like you are Jay. Um, you know, III, I think you have to take advantage of the lessons, you know, and when I meet with the quarterbacks on Sunday, I meet with them on Thursday. And, um, I just have some things that, ok, here's what you really did. Well, and here's some things I want you to look at whether it's footwork and how you're setting up and how it affects your accuracy. Um, you know, what, maybe the other team plays or does. So you're really just trying to teach, you know, and I think they want to try to teach in *** way that's going to impact and affect them in *** positive way. And, you know, Jalen is really good about that. I mean, he really wants to learn, he really listens and, um, you know, Tommy does *** good job with them. So it takes *** lot of patience on my part when you score five touchdowns and have him call back. So that takes patience too. It, it takes patience when you're first and one at the one and you don't score *** touchdown that takes patience. So I got *** lot of things testing my patients, Nick the answer when they get the field goal. 7, 10, you come down 75 yards, 54 on the ground. Your boy being physical, just thoughts on that kind of kept up the game. Yeah, I think that was, you know, one of the most critical drives in the game and then we got *** couple of stops on defense, you know, after that, um, changes the game *** lot when it's *** two score game, especially in the fourth quarter. So we were able to pressure the quarterback *** couple of times on third down and create some situations where they couldn't go forward on fourth down. So, um, but that drive was the drive, that was the difference in the game, got *** blink on the other side and the way this team played in the second half. Do you feel like you learn anything about this, this group or that second half? Tell? Yeah, I think, but I also think that they need to learn about themselves in terms of having confidence and what they can do when they do things correctly and how important that is, um, when they're physical, they compete in the game, they're relentless in their effort and how they, you know, try to dominate their box and they play with more discipline and we don't have the negative plays that, you know, we keep sort of shooting ourselves in the foot with too often. So we got to eliminate those and I think that every one of those are an opportunity to learn. Uh, you don't want to waste *** failing. You've heard me say that many times before and how you respond to those things I think are very important. Did they give you an explanation for that weird thing where it looked like they might have been short of it down? Yeah, that was, uh, I got hot about that one. But, um, you know, most of the time the guy that marks the ball, you know, will signal first down, he came and marked the ball and when they put their hand down, it's like it's short. So we assumed that it was short called *** quarterback sneak which cost us *** down and we tried to do it fast before they could line up. Well, then all of *** sudden like right when we're snapping the ball, they're moving the chains. I mean, the chains didn't move until we were snapping the ball. Now, the referee says I signaled first down. I said, well, why didn't the guy spot the ball signal first down? So, um, that, that was another one of those, you know, when stuff like that happens, the football gods aren't with you. Um, because it's just *** miscommunication and we did not think in the press box that the guy made *** first down most of the time you right away, you know, first down and then the guy marking the ball didn't signal first now. So it's bad on our part. We should have, if we, if we weren't trying to go fast, we would have been able to recover the situation. And that cost us really, we end up kick *** field goal. How would you assess the play of both left tackles? Uh, I can't tell you that. I mean, you probably had *** better seat in the house to watch him play than I did. Uh, I'll be glad to tell you on Monday after I watch the film. Um, I think both guys are improving. Um, but I, I can't really tell you, I don't watch the left tackle every day. I to see how he's doing. Uh, we wanted to play both guys today to see how they did. So we got an opportunity to do that and we'll evaluate it, um, when we watch the film. All right. Thank you. Great crowd today. I mean, it was *** great atmosphere, great crowd, uh, really appreciate the fans supporting the team and creating such positive energy for us. Thank you.