Alabama Defeats Tennessee 37-6
Tennessee-Alabama Postgame Quotes
Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban Opening statement: "Well
I'm obviously very pleased and happy with the results and the way we
responded in the second half. It was a little lackluster in the first
half, which is a little bit concerning, but there was a concern going
into the game, and something we tried to fight all week in terms of
guys being focused on what's happening right now, and not being
concerned about the future, and challenging themselves to play and
having the proper respect for the team that we were playing. I think
those guys did a fantastic job. Derek's done a fantastic job there, and
they were certainly ready to play. They did a good job of kind of
picking us a little bit in the first half, and their defense played a
lot of eight man fronts, and we threw the ball in the second half
because it was really difficult to run it, and we were able to run it a
little better after we loosened them up a little bit. We made some good
halftime adjustments, and I think the biggest thing is the players
responded with a whole different, sort of energy level, passion, and
enthusiasm in the second half, which made all the difference in the
world. As we've talked about before, when we don't have that, we become
very average, and when we have it, we can be pretty good. It's
everybody's choice to do that and to respond that way and be
responsible and be ready to play. So, this is a big game
for our fans. I'm very, very happy that we were able to come out in the
second half and win this game for a lot of people that this game means
a lot to. It certainly means a lot to me. It means a lot to us, and I
know it means a lot to our players, and I know it means a lot to the
University of Alabama and all the people here. We're just pleased and
happy that we were able to get a win for them and make a lot of folks
happy here in the state of Alabama, and all over where we have Alabama
supporters. The crowd was great today, and they energized us in the
second half, and that was really key for us." #35 Nico Johnson, Linebacker On the defensive performance tonight: “We
played well, but we still had a lot of mistakes and we didn’t execute
well in the first half. But we came back out in the second half and
showed some intensity and focus and we played better. So it just shows
when we have intensity and focus we are a dangerous team, but we just
have to come back and work hard the next two weeks.” On the next two weeks and getting ready for LSU: “This
upcoming week we are just going to take it slow and just try to move
into things, but when LSU week comes we are going to pick it back up
and be ready to roll again.” #30 Dont’a Hightower, Linebacker On the defensive performance tonight: “I
feel like the first half we didn’t come out and play ball the way we
wanted to. At halftime we came back and made some really good
adjustments and played our style of football.” On his interception and return: “To
be honest, coach Smart just went over the exact formation and the
players we were going to play with, and it played out the exact same
way we wanted it to. Nico did a real good job of getting his hands on
it and defending the ball. He tipped it in the air and it fell right
into my hands.” #3 Trent Richardson, Running Back On difference between the first half and the second half: “In
the first half, they were trying to stop the run early, and we just had
to come back in the second half and punch them in the mouth. That’s one
thing we established, we’ve got to move the ball, and they were trying
to stop the ball. AJ (McCarron) did a good job managing the game.
Marquis Maze made some good plays. Darius Hanks did an awesome job. The
receivers were just on point and they just let everybody know that it’s
not all about the running game. We had a full team out there.” On AJ McCarron’s play tonight: “AJ
did a really good job. AJ’s always on point. He was upset that he threw
a pick early, but we told him not to worry about it, and that we had
his back. He came right back in and scored a touchdown. In the second
half, that’s how we respond and we have to be relentless.” #73 William Vlachos, Offensive Line On the difference between the first half and the second half: “Obviously
we had a good message from coach Saban. Offensively, they’re not going
to put everybody in the box. You’ve got to throw the ball. The whole
defense was in the box basically. We came out there, and the first
drive of the second half, we ran the ball once, went down and scored
the first play of the next possession. It loosens them up a bit and we
started running the ball again.” On protecting AJ tonight: “I
think we did protect quite a lot. He did a great job. If they’ve got
everybody in the box, we’ve just got to throw the ball. They put that
on AJ’s shoulders and he did it. When you complete passes like that
over their head, it loosens up the run game again, kills clock and
sustains the drive. AJ did a great job.”
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