QUOTES FROM NICK SABAN’S WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
“After watching the film of the game, I was very pleased with the way that the players competed in the game. We played hard and we played with a lot of toughness. We also executed very well on both sides of the ball and those were the things that we emphasized last week in practice. That was the difference in the game.”
“We had some outstanding individual performances in the game. Josh Reed, obviously is the SEC player of the week, and Ro (Rohan Davey) had a phenomenal day throwing the football, but we (the coaching staff) chose to make the entire offensive team the players of the week. It was a great team execution in terms of how we handled the blitz, how we handled the pressure, how we blocked them up front, and how we got the tough yards running the ball when we needed them. We also had some big plays that the guys made at the end of the game.”
“It was an outstanding offensive performance. We really controlled the game, the tempo of the game, and we responded when we had to in the game when it was 21-21. Even when we were disappointed by the opportunities that we squandered, we kept coming back and overcame the adversity, so I thought it was a very good character performance by the offensive team.”
“I really thought that the defense played well in the game. We gave up a few big plays on some of their play-action passes, which was difficult, and we didn’t always stop the option, but we didn’t get out of position too often on it.”
“I thought that the fact that we were physical and aggressive in how we played and how the hitting took a toll on them and their quarterback helped us out. He (Tyler Watts) played a very good game, but he also took a lot of hits. I was pleased with the performance that we had there.”
“On special teams the last few weeks, I think that it shows that we need to get back to doing some of the things that we have done in the past in order to improve. We never really hurt ourselves, other than the fumbled punt, which Josh Reed hasn’t had a lot of experience back there and he had a tough one to handle. The ball was spinning like a top.”
“The big thing that we need to do, is that we haven’t been a big momentum team all year long, and whenever we have had big wins or big performances, we haven’t been able to put them together back-to-back. I think that is a real challenge for this team this week.”
“This team that’s coming in here (Middle Tennessee) probably doesn’t have the respect that they probably deserve. They are champions in their conference, they’re 7-2, and they’ve been able to score 40 points a game as an average.”
“They put some big numbers up with almost 500 yards a game offensively and they really do it in a no-huddle, Tulane-style offense. It really features their best players, which are their two running backs and their quarterback.”
“They are much more of a running team. Even though they pass the ball effectively, they are much more of a running team and a threat to run in the no-huddle style. The only other team that I can compare them to would be Tulane in terms of their philosophy and no-huddle offense.”
“They (MT) play hard and they are aggressive, and I’m sure that they are being told that this team (LSU) has not been a consistent team and that’s a challenge to us and that’s what we’re going to have to prove in the game.”
“From an injury standpoint, I don’t think that we have anybody that’s out. There are about five of six guys that will not practice today.”
“Chad Lavalais has a hamstring. Kenderick Allen is getting a knee checked and we don’t know what the deal is on that. We also have the same ankle sprains that we’ve had for the last couple of weeks and those probably aren’t going to go away until our bye week or whenever those guys have an opportunity to get some extra rest. I don’t really know if anybody’s out for this game from an injury standpoint.”