Nick Saban’s Alabama football team escaped The Swamp with a 31-29 win over the Florida Gators Saturday afternoon. The Tide improved to 3-0, while Florida fell to 2-1.

The Tide jumped out to a big 21-3 lead, but Florida came crawling back — led by the running game. Florida’s offense wore down Alabama’s defense in the second half, thanks to 245 rushing yards and multiple long and sustained drives.

During the postgame press conference, Saban explained his biggest concern with Alabama moving forward.

“Especially on defense,” Saban said after defeating Florida. “We had a lot of mental errors. And they did a good job, they did a really good job. They had a good plan, and when you’re playing the option, everybody’s gotta be disciplined. Somebody’s got the quarterback, somebody’s got the pitch, and we weren’t doing that correctly. I think we were afraid to do a lot of other things that we had planned in the game. But we didn’t get off the field on third down either.

“We had several opportunities, especially in the fourth quarter, to get off the field on third where we created long-yardage situations. When they went 99 yards for a touchdown, they got it backed up on the 1-yard line and we got a third down, we’ve gotta get off the field.

“Another situation where it was 3rd and 18, they complete a pass for 16 yards and go for it on fourth down and convert. So we’ve gotta get off the field on third down. All in all, it was just our execution on defense and the fact that we didn’t get off the field on third down.”

Pete Golding’s defensive unit will be under the microscope this week at practice, and the Tide’s defense just might see the Florida Gators again in Atlanta for the SEC Championship.

You can watch Saban’s full press conference below: