Nick Saban candidly shares how Alabama will respond to Clemson loss, questions team motivation at end of year
Nick Saban sees the national championship loss to Clemson as a learning experience and opportunity for Alabama.
“If you’re a competitor, you’re going to respond in a positive way and learn from the things you didn’t do, whether those things were in preparation, gameday decisions, the habits that you created leading up to the game, the second half of the season,” the Alabama coach said at SEC Media Days. “All of those things contribute to you being able to have success against one of the best, or the best team in the country. We obviously didn’t do that. That’s my responsibility. Our players learned a lot from that experience. We didn’t play with the discipline at the end of the season that we’d like to have as a team.”
The Crimson Tide has spent the offseason looking to bounce back from the 44-16 loss to Clemson behind a strong performance from freshman QB Trevor Lawrence. Clemson, in the fourth straight meeting with Alabama, finished 15-0, while Alabama was 14-1.
Alabama was flagged for six penalties for 60 yards and also had two turnovers in the game. The Crimson Tide was also 4-for-13 on third down.
One thing about Alabama following a loss like that – They always seem to come roaring back the next year.
Give them a month to prepare and they usually beat good teams, give them a month and they loose (see Clemson and close calls to Georgia). This better not be a trend. At the same time you can’t help but raise flags. Sure Sarkisian’s been there and Coach Golding’s got high praises on D so far but so did the coaches last year the team didn’t finish.