Nick Saban
Nick Saban
Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Alabama, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins and three other universities: Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Toledo. His eight-year contract totaling US$32 million made him one of the highest paid football coaches, professional or collegiate, in the United States at the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth31 October 1951
CityFairmont, WV
CountryUnited States of America
Do we want to play him 75 plays in a game? Probably not, ... Do we want to play him in spots and spurts and see how he responds and reacts to it? It's almost like you would do in a preseason game -- six, eight plays, take him out for a few, put another guy in, give him six or eight more and see how he manages it.
Gus has the best understanding of the offense right now. We feel like he hasn't played his best football yet, but with his knowledge and understanding and leadership, we're hopeful that he can show continued improvement, and that we can make some improvement as an offensive team. We've had spots of doing those types of things, and hopefully we'll continue to be more consistent.
There are a lot of questions about the offensive line, and we're going to continue to work some different players in different spots to get the best combination of what we can do,
They've had personnel issues at the running back position for quite some time. They are getting those guys back now and I think those guys are playing better and better. I think they're as healthy as they've been all year. I think that's the key to it. They ran the ball effectively down here. Heath Evans was basically playing tailback. I don't think there is anything wrong with their running game; I just think that they haven't had all the players available in all the right spots being healthy this year that can help them develop the running game more quickly, but it's certainly developing nicely now.
We tried to put ourselves in a position that that wouldn't be a factor for us right now.
We tried to create a little bit of an identity as a team today. I'm proud of the effort that we put in and the way we persevered and overcame adversity. The big thing that this team did today was they had a little tenacity, a little perseverance. And I think that's something you definitely need in this league relative to the competitive balance and what you have to do to win games.
We just want to continue to be able to let them develop and progress. We're not disappointed in anybody. We're actually encouraged by our ability to throw the ball with consistency in the game by all the quarterbacks.
What's the occasion? ... Like I don't know.
We lost two great players who were part of a dominating front, ... Young players are going to determine the depth and quality of the kind of defensive team we're going to have.
We missed a couple of throws and had a couple of turnovers. . . We made some big plays on defense, which helped us. We just have to take advantage of the field position when we get it.
We missed a couple of throws and had a couple of turnovers and we need to get that corrected.
We have to do it, have success doing it, and then do it again,
We went ahead and took the guy we could get. If the opportunity presents itself to get a quality, young quarterback in the draft, we will do it.
We certainly feel both those players are capable. Sometimes when you play corner I think it's very important that you play with confidence and do the things you need to do technique-wise.