'They answered the bell the way we wanted': Alabama head coach Nick Saban on win over Middle Tennesee

How's everybody? Well, I think the, uh players kind of delivered, uh, they had good energy and enthusiasm to start the game. Uh, so I was really happy with the way that, you know, we came out and played in this game, so they kind of answered the bell the way we wanted them to. Uh, there's always, you know, some little bit of shoddy areas that you obviously need to clean up, which we certainly have *** few of those and we'll work on it, but I thought the atmosphere was great, the fans were great. Um, and I really thought the players did *** good job. We did *** good job on third down. Uh, they do *** lot of stuff on offense. I think the defensive players did *** good job of adjusting and adapting, not giving up *** lot of big plays. And, you know, offensively, uh, we ran, had good balance and, you know, did *** pretty good job of passing the ball, made some explosive plays, uh, did *** good job on third down. So, um, you know, pretty good. We obviously got things that we need to work on which we'll pay attention to and, but, uh, like the attitude of the team, we got *** couple of guys banged up. I don't know the, the extent of their injuries, Jalan and more both. But, um, we'll see how that goes. They'll get evaluated tomorrow and probably no more soon. Yeah. Coach, you mentioned the explosive plane. It's just, what do you think of your water, your ability to separation? Uh I'm sorry, I, I couldn't, the, the modern secrets you mentioned the explosive blaze. What do you think of their ability to get separation? Well, they did *** good job of getting open. Um You know, these look no disrespect to these guys. They play hard. Uh They got *** good team. Uh They do *** good job of coaching. They present *** lot of problems for you, but we're gonna have to separate against *** little different caliber guy in the future. Uh So uh that's going to be important and we keep working on that and understand that and I think we'll be fine, but I do think the receiver group has improved. I think there's better depth. I think there's more guys that can make plays. I think there's more confidence. So I I'm, I'm sort of pleased with the way that group has developed and just specifically my receivers, we see the court broke in the first half. This, what did you see from who fall? Can the mo you see for them going forward? Uh He was sitting out the first half for, you know, I know you guys have *** job to do and you know how much I love you. And I want you to help you do your job and you know, all that and give you depth charts. But I'm not gonna reveal to you what *** guy did or didn't do to put himself in *** position where he shot out the first half, but he set out the first half. We stay over here with the, uh they did *** good job, you know, I thought there was time. They, they do *** lot of stuff up front, *** lot of plugging backers, *** lot of movements. So it makes it, you know, *** little difficult to, sometimes, you know, I said before that they're *** little big, little, you know, they gave you some bad plays and, but I, I thought that overall, we did *** good job. We did *** really good job in protection. Um, when we got sacked, it was running back who didn't block his guy. So, um I thought they did *** good job and I, I think that, you know, we're gonna have to have that kind of balance. That's the kind of balance we want to have in the future. So just got to keep on working on it because I'm sure we're gonna play some really good front sevens down the road as well throughout ball camp, the players talk about wanting to play with toughness and physicality in the season and having that identity. What did you see in that area on? No, I was pleased with that. I certainly, you know, that's what we've asked, asked them to do. And I think they competed well in the game. I think they played hard in the game. I think they were trying to be physical. They played with really good toughness and, you know, their, their team plays hard and their team plays with toughness. So, um, I think we certainly match that and I think that was something that was *** real positive for us. I went to jail at the start tonight. And what do you think, how we played? I think Jason did *** good job. I think he's had *** good fall camp. I thought he played well in both scrimmages. Uh, I think he's more confident, uh, doing *** good job in the passing game. You know, his athleticism helps him, you know, I mean, we score *** touchdown on the fumbled snap, which wasn't his fault. You know, the center ball slipped out of his hand and rolled back, picks it up and runs it for *** touchdown. You know, he's *** threat to, you know, pull the ball in his own plays, which he scored *** touchdown on that. So, uh, and I thought he threw the ball effectively. So I thought he played well, you know, there was one play early in the game where they were on Sonic Field blitz, which, you know, we're supposed to check out the play. We, we didn't get it checked. Um, so there's always things like that, that you could do *** little bit better. But I think that experience is basically an accumulation of things that you learn from the mistakes that you make. That's what experience is. And, and I think as he continues to develop and gain experience, um, you know, he's going to play better and better, but I thought he played well the night. Mhm. You talked earlier about tackling and, uh, I look pretty good. Yeah, we tackled decent. Uh, I think we had *** couple of missed tackles but, um, and I thought that especially you saw the perimeter plays that they ran, whether they were jet sweeps, bubble passes, smoke passes, advantage, throws, whatever, you know, the whole game plan, which kind of told the players it would be this way that, you know, they would get the ball out quick. We wouldn't have *** lot of chances to get *** whole bunch of sacks. The ball was gonna come out quick. We're gonna have to break on the ball and we're gonna have to tackle well in space and I think that we did *** pretty good job of that and I think that's why they didn't have very many explosive plays this past week. You mentioned the emphasis on cutting down penalties in the preseason. They were known by the offense, only two by the defense. Is your thoughts on that? Well, that's like one of the goals, you know, play penalty free or special teams or we had one on special teams, I think too. Um, or offense, defense don't give the other team advantage by giving, giving away yards and field position and putting yourself in *** hole, um, with penalties. Do you have any other team first downs when you, you make undisciplined type penalties, you're always gonna have some penalties in the game, but the pre snap line of scrimmage undisciplined type penalties, I think are the things you really want to focus on eliminating and playing with good technique or eliminate other penalties. So, um, you know, one of the things I said to the players was if you really have confidence and you believe in yourself, do you have to jump off side to win? Do you have to line up in the backfield on offense to pass block? Do you have to hold *** guy in coverage to be able to cover him? Um I don't think anybody should think that they need to do any of those things. So let's do it the right way. And I think they did *** good job of that tonight. He talks about Jalen needing more experience moving forward. How do you think tonight's, you know, positive performance will help him moving forward to next week and beyond? And who is that So you're asking me to speculate? And I, I ask, answer *** hypothetical question about how some guy's gonna perform in the future. I don't really know. I mean, I love him. I think he's doing well. Uh, I know he's working hard to try to improve. He's *** good competitor. He'll do everything he can to play his best. But I don't, I don't have, this is *** Coke bottle. It's not *** crystal ball. How do you think of play? Do you know? Do you have any idea? Uh, hard to know. It's what we all strive for though. I mean, we want everybody to play well and we're gonna try to prepare them the best way we can, but that's why you play the games *** lot of time. Got on the fit tonight. Could you just talk about their play and specifically the morning talking about the receivers. We need *** new sound system in here or I can't hear it one or the other. All right. So the tight ends, well, I thought the tight ends did. Ok. Uh I think we have better tight ends on our team than we've had in the past. Uh CJ gives us something we haven't had, which is *** good strong solid blocker at Y uh, Amari is *** really good pass receiver. Made *** really nice catch down the middle today. Uh He's improved his blocking, you know, Danny is *** good blocker and ***, *** good Y, uh, Robbie S is kind of *** h back, old fashioned fullback type of guy that can do certain things really well. So that group is, uh, I think much better than we've had in the last couple of years. I mean, we've had to play an offensive tackle at tight end to be able to do some of the things that we're doing now. So, um, I'm pleased with the progress that group has made and, you know, hopefully that will help us in the future. You know, it's hard to run the ball on the perimeter when you don't have guys that can block *** tight end and, you know, we've got power at tackle. So, you know, hopefully we can continue to improve on how effectively we can run the ball as well because of those two things, including the tight ends. That's it. Thank you. Appreciate it.