The Alabama Crimson Tide beat the Auburn Tigers 42-13 in the Iron Bowl, but Nick Saban wasn’t there to coach.

Instead, Saban was stuck watching the game from home due to testing positive for COVID-19, but that didn’t matter. His team thoroughly dominated Auburn in every facet of the game.

Following the win over Auburn, Saban spoke to the media from his recruiting room:

Opening Statement
“This is a great win for our team. Really proud of our players and our coaches. I think everybody really stepped up and did a really, really good job today. I think the energy was good. The offense made a lot of explosive plays out there. Defense really played well. Just a great team win. I can’t really explain it. I mean this is an unusual circumstance for me to be in, to be watching from afar. To see our team play from a far, win the game. They were excited after the game. They were very happy that they could go out there and do a great job in this game, playing at home.

“Last home game for a lot of the seniors. I am sure the players wanted to do a good job for them. I am really happy for our seniors and the great contribution that they have made in their career here. It is great for them to win the last game in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“I think the coaching staff did a marvelous job today. They played the situation, we had a good plan. They stayed with the plan, they executed the plan. Sark did a nice job of managing things. I sat here and felt a little helpless, but I could see things and yell at things, listen to Mrs. Terry cheer downstairs, it is a little different. It still feels good to win.

“I am happy for our fans who support us. I know this is a big game for the people who support us. It is just a great win for us. I am sure there are a lot of things we can learn from this game, lessons that we will learn from and grow from and get better. That is something that we always want to focus on this time of the year, that your team continues to improve and get better, each game you play, there is a little more on the line, so it is really important that you can execute and play with consistency. That is something that we will have to strive for in these next games that we have coming up here.”

On Steve Sarkisian’s game decisions
“I didn’t think there was a lot. I didn’t think there was a lot of those real tough situations that came up. A couple of times we made it on third down, but we could have gone for it on fourth down. Those decisions didn’t really come up. I thought he was well prepared for what he needed to do, and I think he did a really good job.”

On Alabama’s pass rush
“I think that our entire defense has kind of improved and gelled together as a unit. All 11 guys are playing better. I think we play a little better in the back end. I think we got a little better pass rush. I think we are using more players now, which I think enhances everybody’s opportunities to have a role and be able to go out there and contribute. We made a couple mistakes in the secondary that could have been costly. The guy drops the ball when he is 20 yards behind everybody in the second quarter, which is a bust on defense. There was a couple third downs that we needed to get off the field on, and we didn’t because of a couple mental errors. Auburn does a really, really good job offensively. They use a lot of formations, a lot of motions, you have to be on your toes in terms of how you adjust. For the most part we did a really good job, but we made a couple errors that helped them make some plays, especially on third down.”

On missing Senior Day
“I think that’s a tough one. I think both are equally difficult to deal with when you’re a coach and you have so much respect and admiration for this senior class and all that they’ve accomplished and all that they’ve done. But this is one of the best classes of people, I think, that we’ve ever had. Great leadership, really good character. They’ve inspired and impacted a lot of other guys on our team in a really positive way. I think they’re all gonna graduate, so we’re really proud of them for that. I’m sure they’re gonna go on and be great ambassadors for the University of Alabama, as well, and have success in life because of who they are, and hopefully some of the lessons that they’ve learned while they were here will help them be more successful in life. That was difficult.

“And then not being there for the game, the Iron Bowl is such a great competitive venue, it means so much to so many people — man, it was really hard, especially the fact that I feel great. But I did what I could do to help prepare the team throughout the week, was involved in everything that we could do right up till 90 minutes before the game, then we just had to sit and watch from afar. But I think the training and the discipline that you develop in people carries over whether you’re there with them or not. I mean, no different than your kids. If you train your kids well and they make really good choices and decisions, you can trust them to go out and do it even when you’re not around. I think that speaks volumes for the character on our team and the leadership that we have that helps inspire everybody on the team to play with that kind of competitive character.”

On freshman DB Malachi Moore
“I think that early in the season we saw a lot of stuff — Missouri, Ole Miss. Those games were really tough for the defensive players, especially the young ones. They saw about everything that you could see from a formation and adjustment standpoint. But I think they learned a lot from it, and I think Malachi is the kind of guy that might make a mistake one, but when he learns — he’s smart — he gets it right the next time. So, the cumulative effect of those experiences, I think, has made him a lot more confident, and he’s played really, really well for us. I’m sure that he’ll continue to improve, but we’re certainly pleased with the progress that he’s made to this point.”

On a tough week of preparation
“I really don’t think so because we actually practiced for them three days — one day of the bye week and then on Monday and Tuesday when we thought we were gonna play and the game got canceled. We actually had three days of work with them. Not that players are gonna immediately sort of recall all that stuff, but because we’d had some experience with that, I think that’ll be beneficial to how we put the plan together. I think it’s important this time of year. Look, this would normally have been the 12th game of the season, aight. We’re still gonna have two games left and, if we’re fortunate enough to have success in those games, a third game in the SEC Championship and maybe more after that. So, I think we really gotta try to take care of our team a little bit in terms of how we practice and how they recover and how we move forward with our team. This is gonna be a big game for us at LSU. It always is. They have a lot of really good players. And I don’t care what their record is, they have a lot of talented guys. We thought that when we were preparing for them before. I don’t feel like this is gonna be an abnormal week for us.”

Why was he yelling at the TV?
“I think I did yell at the TV a couple times today. A couple times when we made some mistakes in coverage. A couple times when we missed some tackles. A couple times when Mac didn’t throw the ball to the guy I thought he should have thrown it to (laughs). So, I guess it was more than a couple.”

The elephant head backstory on the Zoom press conference
“You’d have to talk to Miss Terry about that. She’s the decorator in the house. I’m actually in what we call our recruiting room. This is the room that we actually added on to the house when we came here so that when we had recruits and their parents that we would have a room large enough that we could have 60-70 people and have breakfast and a little line-dancing at night, a little shooting pool, a little playing cards to develop relationships. If you could see the whole room, there’s quite a bit of Alabama paraphernalia and lots of pictures that represent a lot of positive things that have happened here, whether they’re trips to the White House or receiving the national championship trophies. I guess that elephant is a symbol of who we are at Alabama.”