The Third Saturday in October week is off and rolling as both Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel each held an opening press conference on their respective campuses Monday.
Alabama will host this year’s rivalry matchup after an unforgettable scene transpired after Tennessee’s game-winning field goal in the game last year, highlighted by field storming and goal post teardowns.
While last season’s contest involved two undefeated Top 6 teams, this year’s game will feature two one-loss teams that are both looking for their ticket back into the Top 10 rankings. Alabama has sat on the outside looking in for the past five weeks while Tennessee has been climbing back up since losing to Florida and being knocked down into the 20s.
Saban touched on a number of topics on Tennessee during Monday’s press conference including the tradition behind it, Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton, the Vols’ ability to pressure the quarterback, and much more.
No. 11 Alabama will host No. 17 Tennessee on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET in Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium.
More from RTI: Josh Heupel Updates the Status of Three Key Vols Entering Alabama Week
Here’s a look at everything that Nick Saban had to say about Tennessee on Monday. The quotes below are provided thanks to Cody Goodwin of Bama247 (247Sports).
Opening Statement/Thoughts on Tennessee…
“This game we’re playing against Tennessee, big rivalry game. Means a lot to a lot of people in the state of Alabama, and I’m sure there, too. It’s one of the best rivalries in college football. They have a really good team. They’re ranked 15th or whatever, so they have a really, really good team. Very explosive. Josh Heupel has done an outstanding job there.
They play with great tempo on offense, which is challenging for the defense, but their ability to run the ball and create balance has been pretty phenomenal this year. I mean, they run it for like 230, pass it for like 210, whatever, and that kind of balance is always something that is difficult. Their defense is playing really, really good. They’re in the top three or four in the SEC, ranked nationally in negative plays, sacks, tackles for loss and those types of things.
I think Joe Milton is a really good quarterback. They’ve got three really good runners who have all been very productive. They’ve got good skill guys outside. This is, all around, a really, really good team. It’s important for us to have a great week of preparation and be able to maintain focus in practice, in meetings, in whatever we’re doing, to be able to carry that forward in the game and be able to sustain it in the game for 60 minutes, which is what it’s going to take in a game like this.”
On the Challenges of Tennessee’s Wide Splits with the Wide Receivers…
“They certainly make you defend 53 yards wide, on the field. But there’s two challenges. It affects run support in the box, because the guys that are covering the receivers are so far away from the box. But they also run a lot of vertical routes from out there, so the people who are covering are pretty isolated because they’re far away from the split safety or the middle of the field safety. It’s very challenging. The thing that’s going to be really important is to not give up explosive plays, which was a real issue for us a year ago.
When dealing with freshmen that are getting significant playing time, what’s the balance like in being patient and letting them learn and grow, and then knowing when it’s time to get tougher on them?
I think that everyone’s a little different when it comes to that. Some guys, even though they’re young, they handle their failures fairly well and learn from them. They’re focused on not necessarily the outcome but what do I have to do to get the outcome. And those guys seem to do pretty well.
Some guys that are young, good players maybe lack a little bit of that maturity and sometimes allow the success and the failure that they’re having affect how they approach the next play. And that’s something that I try to harp on the players, that baseball is a game of failures. So if you made two out of three outs in baseball, you struck out two out of three times, got a hit the third time, you’d be in the Hall of Fame. So for young guys they have to understand that if I can learn and grow from the mistakes that I make, not waste the failings, that that will be significant in me making improvement and developing. And that takes the right mind-set.
I think the relative degree that young guys have in that area sort of determines how fast they improve.”
On Cleaning Up Pass Rush Issues Before Playing Tennessee’s Defense…
“It’s very important. It’s been important all year. It’s something that we have to do a really good job planning wise, and we have to fundamentally play better. It’s a combination of both. Both of those things are coaching and teaching things that we need to do better. Guys need to get set better, hand placement has to be better, footwork has to be better, and we have to make sure whatever scheme it is that we’re trying to use that players are capable of doing it without putting themselves in bad position.”
On Quarterback Joe Milton III…
“I don’t see Joe being a whole lot different than what we’ve played against in the past, when (Hendon) Hooker was there. Guy can throw the ball, he’s accurate, he’s got a strong arm, they can make plays down the field, and they take a lot of vertical shots, so he’s certainly capable of making those plays. But he’s also athletic enough to extend plays in the pocket and run if necessary. You don’t tell them anything different than any other time they play a quarterback (like that). You can’t get pushed by the quarterback. You have to keep the guy in front of you. We’ve got to have disciplined pass-rush lanes. Need to try to make the guy throw on time from the pocket, and hopefully we can cover them well enough to make it work on the back end.”
To read everything that Nick Saban said on Monday from Bama247, click here.
