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Alabama - Vanderbilt, 34-0
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Nick Saban
Opening statement:
“It’s
always good to win in the league. We obviously didn’t play our best
football game, especially in the first half. We didn’t have the mental
energy and intensity that we like to have, to play with the kind of
consistency that we need to in order to improve as a team. I think it’s
a challenge for everyone to say what do I want to accomplish, what is
important to me, what kind of ownership am I willing to take for that,
and am I going to be individually responsible to make sure I do my job
well all the time. It doesn’t have anything to do with who you are
playing. Vanderbilt has a great team. They are doing a good job with
their team. They play hard and create a lot of problems for you on
offense and do a lot of things to take advantage and play well with the
guys they have. We played a lot better in the second half. AJ
(McCarron) played pretty well, he didn’t turn the ball over which was
really important. We made some adjustments and played a lot better in
the second half. We certainly have a lot of things we need to improve
on and we will continue to work on that. Everybody’s got to take the
same ownership and responsibility to do that so we can get better as a
team.”
On Wide Receiver #2 DeAndrew White’s play tonight:
“Well
you know, we have been waiting for DeAndrew to have the type of game
that would help him develop some confidence as a player. He’s a very
explosive guy and has great speed and certainly would be a good
addition to our group of receivers and complement them very well. He
did a nice job tonight, but he is a guy that has played really well in
practice that hasn’t had any production or opportunities in games and I
think as a young player, maybe this game will be something he can build
on and develop some confidence. He did a really nice job.”
On Quarterback #10 AJ McCarron’s play tonight:
“I
don’t think that anybody played really well in the first half. We
didn’t execute very well, and you don’t get a very good feeling about
what you’re doing if you know you’re not out there sort of having the
kind of mental energy and intensity that you need to keep the focus and
discipline to do things the right way. And I think when you’re playing
quarterback, you feel that with the people around you, but also when
you’re playing quarterback you’re sort of responsible to get those
other guys from a leadership stand point to shape up for you. The first
half was really the first time this year that I felt we were flat and
we were a little bit that way in pregame and we practiced well this
week and prepared well for this game, so we just didn’t have the sense
of purpose that we need and this is the moral challenge that we all
have--- to overcome human nature, and to get satisfied too easily, and
it wouldn’t make any difference to me if I’m trying to be the best
player I can be but I was playing Arkansas, Florida, or Vanderbilt. I
would be trying to play the same way, and that’s what we are trying to
get our players to do and I know that’s not human nature, but that’s
what we want to try and get them to do so that we can improve and get
better as a team.”
On Vanderbilt’s Quarterback #11 Jordan Rodgers play versus the play of Quarterback #10 Larry Smith and his play:
“No,
I think they did a lot of the same stuff. We saw every play tonight
that we have given up anywhere this season. You know, a team has a bye
week before they play you, and they hit the wheel route Arkansas hit on
us, there were a lot of plays that, especially in the first half, and
there weren’t very many repeats. They did settle down a little bit in
the second half and so did we, but we made a lot of mental errors in
the beginning of the game and didn’t do things correctly defensively,
didn’t adjust to the formations, got a little bit confused, but we
settled down in the second half and played a lot better. I think they
did what they were going to do.”
On reestablishing the run in the second half:
“We
just felt like we should be running at these guys and if they were
going to move and try to give us bad plays that we need to finish the
blocks and we did a really good job in that particular drive and we
went ahead 14-0, it was kind of critical, they got the ball first and
we went three and out on defense and got the ball and went 90 some odd
yards for a touchdown drive, which I think was probably the turning
point in the game.”
#4 Mark Barron, Defensive Back
On defense’s performance keeping them out of the end zone:
“I
felt like we were fortunate in the first half to keep them out of the
end zone because we didn’t play to our best ability. But in the
second half, we came out with better focus and we came out and executed
better. I felt like it showed as far as the yardage we were
giving up.”
#35 Nico Johnson, Linebacker
On how much pride he takes in the shutout:
“We
take a lot of pride. We try to shut our offense out in practice
every day, so when we shut somebody out, we’re kind of pleased with
ourselves. But the way we executed today wasn’t our best, so we’re
going to come back and work hard.”
On getting ready for another SEC road game at Ole Miss:
“We’re
going to have to do better than we did tonight. We’re going to
have to focus and be on our stuff and execute better, because that’s
where it starts. We’re going to go from there.”
#73 William Vlachos, Offensive Line
On the offense today:
“There
were times when things look great and there were times when things
broke down. Hats off to Vanderbilt. They had a good plan coming off
their off week and they did some different things and confused us a
little bit. But you’re always happy when you get a win, especially a
shutout and the defense played great and they continue to get better.”
On going to the passing game early:
“I
think everyone on our offense is doing their job for the most part. I
think it’s a great call there by Coach Mac to go empty almost the whole
drive and take us down the field because the running game is up front
but there was a lot of room for our receivers to make plays and they
did that and AJ did a pretty good job, he did a very good job tonight.”
#17 Brad Smelley, Tight End
On the overall performance of the passing game:
“Yeah
well they were kind of loading the box and they were bringing a lot of
people down and blitzing and coming off the edge so there were a lot of
holes in the defense. They were playing a lot of zone defenses behind
them and we were able to find a lot of those open holes with everyone
doing a good job in the passing game. AJ played really well and the
receivers got open and I think we all made some good plays tonight.”
On having so many people in the box and being able to go to the passing game:
“I
definitely think we are an offense that can run and pass at will when
we are clicking on all cylinders. I think we showed that tonight that
if you try to load the box, we can definitely make plays over the top
and find the zones and the spaces that are open in there. We are a two
phase team so we can run and pass.”
Head Coach James Franklin
Opening statement:
“I
would like to start off by saying I love my kids and I love my coaches.
All I can say is we have to keep working hard and we’ll eventually
close the gap. We’re going to work hard every day by developing our
kids and recruiting. Our offense moved the ball well tonight but we
didn’t make the plays we needed to. When we had the chance to
execute, we didn’t do it. Also, we can’t have missed field goals. Our
two missed field goals killed our momentum. I thought our defense
played well but they got worn down because they were on the field too
long. We also didn’t do a great job on third down, and our offense was
inconsistent. We will get this fixed though. We’re going to
stay positive and stick to our plan by recruiting well. That’s what
they’ve done here. You ask me what their [Alabama’s] secret is. It’s
what I’ve said all week. I have a great amount of respect for Coach
Saban and they’ve done a great job here. They recruit well, they coach
hard, and they have a great plan. That’s their secret and that’ll be
our plan as well.”
On the touchdown by Alabama to end the first half:
“It’s
just a play. It didn’t hurt our momentum. It just happened. We’re going
to have to fight through this and persevere through all kinds of
situations like those. That was a play we gave up that we need to
eliminate, but they do happen sometimes. We just have to bounce back
and be resilient.”
On Alabama’s defense:
“I think if
you look offensively, we moved the ball well. We were able to get
the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly. We were able to get
somewhat of a running game going. When we had opportunities to make big
plays, we didn’t come up with those plays. Against a good team like
that, you have to take advantage of those opportunities. All I can say
is we’re going to stick to our plan and work hard. I thought we had a
great plan coming in. We’ve had good plans all year especially on
defensive. It just all comes down to execution. I’m not pointing the
fingers at our kids though. We just have to execute better.”
On Larry Smith’s injury:
“He’s
got a lower leg injury. He could have come back if we needed him to but
I felt like we would give Jordan (Rodgers) an opportunity to see what
he can do. I thought Jordan did some things well, but we have got to
eliminate the negative plays. That’s what we have to do offensively. We
have to eliminate the negative plays that hurt us. Without getting into
any detail, we just have plays that don’t work well in our system.
Sometimes we don’t follow those rules and it’ll hurt you.”
#11 Jordan Rodgers, Quarterback
On Vanderbilt’s performance:
“We
saw on film that it was going to be a challenge, and we showed that we
could move the ball. We just need to execute better. I thought we had a
great game plan, the offensive line played great and guys were making
plays. You’ve got to give them credit.”
On the change in momentum in the second half of the game:
“We
just need to get better at executing the little things and being
consistent in drives. I made a couple of mental mistakes that hurt us,
and that’s on me.”
#36 Chase Garnham, Linebacker
On the game plan and execution:
“We
came into the game wanting to stop the run. The stretch play is really
big for them so all week we keyed in on that in practice. We actually
did a pretty good job stopping the stretch play, but they came at us
with power and they just drove the ball and put us away.”
On the defense not forcing turnovers:
“They [Alabama] did a good job of holding onto the ball and the quarterback made good decisions.”
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