COACH NICK SABAN: First off, on behalf of the
University of Alabama and our entire football family, I’d like
to thank all the people at the Allstate Sugar Bowl who have
worked very, very hard to create an atmosphere and environment
here for this great competitive venue for the players.
The hospitality has been outstanding. And the city
of New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl folks have done an
outstanding job of creating an atmosphere and environment for a
college football playoff that is conducive relative to the
competitive venue that we have.
And we want to thank everybody for that. I’ve been
pleased with the way our players have been able to maintain a
focus on the importance of the game that we’re playing against
a very, very good Ohio State team, who, in their own right, has
had an outstanding year and won the Big Ten championship, as
well as playing very well at the end of the season.
So this is certainly a challenge that all competitors
look forward to. And it’s great to be a part of. But our
players have stayed focused, worked hard and kept their nose
where it needs to be in terms of what they need to do to be
able to play what everyone needs to look at as our best game of
the year.
And that’s a challenge technically to every guy at
every position to play with the kind of discipline that you
need to play with to do that.
So I wish everybody out there a very happy new year
and we’re looking forward to a great game.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?
Q. I was wondering with the news about coach Harbaugh,
it’s interesting you’re one of the few people who can speak to
what he’s going through going from the professional leagues
back to the college ranks. Wondered if you had any thoughts on
what’s most respectively difficult about coaching professional
ball versus coaching college ball and what if any collegial
advice you would offer him about that transition.
COACH NICK SABAN: To be quite honest with you, as a
coach, I’m really kind of focused on being a good coach for our
team. I think what you want to do as a coach is make sure that
you have done the best possible job to help your players go out
and be most effective in what they need to do to play in a big
game that they worked hard all year to earn the right to be in.
So, I don’t really have a lot of thoughts right now
on what another coach at another school needs to do to make a
transition. I think there’s definitely things that are
different about coaching pro football and coaching college
football.
And I think if you have experience in both of those
things you should draw on those experiences and develop the
program wherever you are in either league that is most
accommodating to the challenges that you have.
Q. How do you combat the complacency keep it sharp as an
individual. And as a coach for these players, every year
there’s a lot of coaches that would love to know your secret,
but what is it when you look in the mirror each year and how do
you keep it fresh for these players to keep them at this level
competing for a championship, potential championship?
COACH NICK SABAN: I think that our entire staff and
all of our players have responded very well to the standard
that we sort of try to set for the way we want things to be
done and how we they need to be done so you can have success.
And I think everyone buying into those principles and those
certainly a key to being able to maintain that standard.
And I think the players should be given the credit
for making the commitment, doing the work, overcoming the
adversity, staying together as a team, so that they created an
opportunity for themselves that they worked hard all year to
try to create.
So we can sort of establish the standard, but the
team, the team chemistry, the family of people involved with
the team, you know, all have to be all in to doing the things
you need to do to be successful.
And we’ve had that kind of buy-in, and I think that’s
been a real key to our success.
Q. This is obviously the first year of the playoff. How
did you go about preparing your team this week, knowing that
there’s another game and this is obviously very different.
Normally you guys would be playing for a ational Championship
this week. Now potentially another one. Have you changed
anything, have you treated it as a normal bowl week?
COACH NICK SABAN: No, we haven’t treated it like a
normal bowl week. But this is the only game that matters. We
played 13 games. And since the Ole Miss game, we’ve sort of
been in a playoff of our own kind.
We were always one negative experience away from
being out of the mix relative to getting in the college
playoff.
Now that we’re in the playoff, the circumstance is
really no different. So everything is about this game. I use
the term be where your feet are. Everybody needs to be focused
on what they need to do for this game. We prepared for this
game like it is the only game that matters.
And I think once we get an outcome of this game,
we’ll focus on what comes next, whatever that might be.
Q. Have you gotten a feel for Ohio State’s quarterback
situation? Obviously Cardale Jones will be the starter, he’s
got one game and then their backup looks like it’s going to be
their hybrid back, Jalin Marshall, how did you get your team
prepared for that?
COACH NICK SABAN: Well, we sort of thought
philosophically that they would have a two-quarterback system,
because there’s quite a bit of quarterback run-type plays that
they would implement even if it was a non-quarterback at
quarterback, which we feel No. 17 has done that some in the
past and is a very, very capable player and was an outstanding
player doing that in high school.
So we’ve kind of looked at that as something that is
a great possibility and tried to practice some of those
scenarios. Now, what they do and how they do it, we have no
real clue other than what they’ve done to this point. But we
do have respect for both guys and what their abilities are and
what they can do.
And I think our players are going to have to adjust
to both the players in the game. And I think one of the points
that I made about staying focused and keeping your intensity
level up and expecting the unexpected in a game like this and
playing with discipline, are all things that are going to be a
real key to being able to adapt to a situation like that,
because whatever they choose to do may be a little bit
unexpected in terms of what we’ve been able to prepare for.
So we’re going to have to — our players are going to
have to adapt and adjust to that. But we have seen it enough
that they at least have an expectation of what could happen in
both those scenarios.
Q. As you get further along in your career, do you —
obviously this wouldn’t be the week to do it — but do you ever
take a time and look at what you’ve been able to accomplish and
kind of savor it or appreciate all of the things that you have
been able to do, particularly since you’ve gotten to Alabama?
COACH NICK SABAN: I really haven’t and don’t,
because all the things that we talk about like be where your
feet are, focus on what’s happening now, and nothing that’s
been accomplished in the past is going to have any effect on
what happens in the future.
And I think as a coach, you’re always looking for the
moments to come. And you’re always looking for the next game,
the next challenge, how do we prepare our team the best so that
they have the best opportunity to have a chance to be
successful in the game.
And again you always want to send your team out there
and say they were well coached, they were well prepared, and
that doesn’t mean you’re always going to win. But it means
that you at least gave them the best opportunity to go out
there and have a chance to execute and be successful against
whatever challenges the opponent presents.
So, none of that ever gets thought about in the past
tense. It’s always in the future tense of what the next
challenge is and what the moments are in the future that you’re
going to have to adjust to to try to continue to be successful.
Q. T.J. Yeldon has been coming off the ankle hamstring,
how has he looked in practice this week?
COACH NICK SABAN: He’s been able to practice each
and every day that we’ve been here, and he’s looked better and
better each day and we’re very hopeful that he’s — it will
probably be a pre-game decision, which with all injured players
they’re always involved, whether they’re able to go out and do
their job effectively and we’ll make that decision at that
time, but we’re very hopeful that he’ll be able to make a
contribution in this game.
Q. The four teams that got into this playoff are some of
the best known teams in the college football world. How much
do you think that branding has to do with it, and how good or
bad is it that these four teams got in versus, say, TCU and
Baylor being included in the mix? Do you think that branding
had anything to do with that?
COACH NICK SABAN: Well, alls I can say is I think
that all four teams that are in this certainly earned their way
into this by how they played, what they did, the
accomplishments that they were able to make over an entire body
of work and how they finish the season probably had something
to do with that, whether it was win a conference championship
or play very well at the end of the season.
So, I have no opinion about who should or who
shouldn’t have. I don’t see all those teams play. I don’t
know. I think that we have a system and however flawed that
system may be we can criticize it. But it is what it is, and I
think that you know that in terms of what your team has to do
to be able to get in a game like this, the kind of teams you
need to play, the kind of competition you need to succeed
against it.
And I think all the four teams that are in this were
able to do that. That’s not to say that other teams did not do
it. But there’s no debate to me that the best teams, four of
the best teams in the country got into this. And I think that
it’s going to be very challenging now that these teams are in
it to try to get your team to stay focused and play their best
football at this time of the year.
Q. If Yeldon is limited, does that mean increased
opportunities for Jalston Fowler and Tyler Jones?
COACH NICK SABAN: I don’t think there’s any question
about the fact that we’ve always played more than one back.
And we have a lot of confidence in all the players that you
mentioned. Jalston Fowler has played many roles for us this
year and has always been very effective in whatever role that
has been, and probably has as much diversity as a player as
anybody that plays on our team.
And he’s certainly done an outstanding job this year
and Tyren Jones, when he’s had an opportunity has done a good
job for us and Derrick Henry has played better and better as
the year has gone on and played some of his best football at
the end of the season.
So we’re very confident in all those players, that
they have an opportunity in the game that they’re capable of
going in and doing a very good job for us.
Q. Really at the start of camp, one of your prime
messages was the need to improve this team as the season goes
along. How have they done that? Is there an area, too, where
you can point to that, yeah, we are much better at this point
than we were starting? And have you seen the same from Ohio
State, an improvement over the course of the season?
COACH NICK SABAN: Well, to answer the second
question first, I think that Ohio State has made a tremendous
amount of improvement throughout their season. They have some
very, very good players on their team and some of those players
are young players who certainly gain confidence as the season
went on.
And they played their best football, I think, at the
end of the season. And that’s why they’re here. From our
standpoint, I think our team came a long way in overcoming a
lot of adversity. If you really look at what happened during
the course of the season, I mean when we lost to Ole’ Miss, you
know, not only did everyone sort of discount this team totally
and completely, it wasn’t just that this team wasn’t going to
make it, it was that the whole era of what we’ve been able to
do at Alabama was done, gone, didn’t work anymore and all that.
So our players really responded to the loss and did
the things that they needed to do to develop into a pretty good
football team that played some of their best football at the
end of the season as well.
Are we a perfect team? No. I don’t see a perfect
team out there. There aren’t any real perfect players, and
there’s really not a perfect team.
So to compete to play together for everybody to be
responsible to do their job and to work to do the things that
you need to do to improve, I would say I’m very pleased with
what our team has been able to do throughout the course of this
season.
Q. What have you done this week specifically working
with your defensive backs, knowing the pension for the long
ball from Ohio State and trying to keep people in front of them
and cutting off routes, that kind of thing?
COACH NICK SABAN: It’s the same thing we always do
when we play against really good receivers. They certainly
have good receivers that have made a lot of explosive plays
this year. And I think that’s going to be one of the key
matchups in the game for our guys to play really good technique
in the back end, to keep their players cut off, to stay in good
position, and it usually goes back to eye control, technique,
so that you are well prepared to be in a good position when you
have those opportunities present themselves when they run down
the field and play the ball aggressively.
So we played against a lot of good receivers all year
long. Sometimes we’ve done a good job against those guys and
sometimes we’ve given up some plays that we wish we wouldn’t
have.
And I think big plays are going to be probably a key
factor in this game and that’s probably one of the things that
we need to do extremely well in this game is play well in the
back end, keep people cut off, and minimize their opportunities
for big plays.
Q. You mentioned that what you’ve been able to do at
Alabama. How much pride do you take in that in a time when
college football is increasingly competitive, that your program
has been able to stay up at the top and set the standard for
the rest of the country?
COACH NICK SABAN: Well, I think there’s a lot of
good programs in the country, and a lot of people have had a
lot of success. And we have a so-called vision of what we want
to accomplish, and we have a process that we think is effective
when people buy into it, and we try to create the discipline
for the people involved to be able to execute that sort of
process.
And I think that’s been the key to our success. I
also think that from a program standpoint and from a total
administrative standpoint, from a university standpoint as well
as from an athletic department standpoint, we’ve been able to
create a program that provides a lot of value for players in
terms of how we try to use this process to help them be more
successful in life for some of the things that they learn in
the program.
The importance of getting an education, developing a
career off the field, doing the things that you need to do to
develop as a football player so that you may have a career as a
football player some day if that’s your goals and aspirations
but always being a good person and developing a career off the
field and developing a career on the field, relative to the
importance of how is that going to help you be successful in
your future.
And that’s something that I’m very thankful that our
institution has done everything they can to help our players
have the best chance to be successful long term in their life.
And it’s very — there’s a lot of self-gratification
in seeing that happen for young people developing the kind of
characteristics that will help them be successful on and off
the field.
Q. From an outsiders’s perspective and media perspective
your quarterback seems to be everything that’s right about
college football, the tenacity, the drive, the willingness to
do whatever it takes, wherever he’s placed. I’m interested in
your thoughts from a coach’s perspective and somebody who is
close to him and has intimate knowledge of him?
COACH NICK SABAN: I don’t think there’s any question
about the fact that Blake Sims has done a phenomenal job for
our team this year. And I think he deserves a tremendous
amount of credit, not just for his accomplishments, but all the
things that he did to become what he is, because there was a
lot of people that didn’t think that Blake Sims could ever be
the quarterback at Alabama.
And he worked extremely hard to overcome every
deficiency that he had, whether it was improving as a passer,
improving his ability to game manage the team. And I think
that going from a guy who most people thought could not be
successful as a quarterback at Alabama to a guy who set the
single season passing record and the total offensive production
for a season at the University of Alabama, that includes a lot
of really good football players in the past.
Accomplishment that holds great significance and should be
recognized based on what a great job he did in making that
happen for himself and for our team, and then to go back and be
player on the team as MVP of the SEC championship game, I can’t
say enough about all that Blake Sims has done to contribute to
the success of our team.
