The University of Alabama football team arrived in New Orleans where the media was waiting for it at the airport Saturday afternoon.
Here’s some of what Coach Nick Saban and All-Americans Amari Cooper and Landon Collins had to say about the upcoming Sugar Bowl against Ohio State on Jan. 1 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN):
“First of all I’d like to wish a Happy Holiday. I hope your holiday has been wonderful to this point. I’d like to give a special thanks to the Allstate Sugar Bowl and the city of New Orleans for creating a great bowl week for our team. We have a great history at the University of Alabama and the Sugar Bowl. We have the most appearances, fourteen, most victories, eight. There’s a lot of history here and we’ve had great relationships will people who provide the great hospitality to our team, so we’re very appreciative of that.
“I’m also very proud of what our team has been able to accomplish this year. I think this team started out and didn’t know for sure what we were going to do, but with a lot of hard work and dedication. Our team has gone through a lot of adversity and now we have a tremendous opportunity to play an outstanding Ohio State team. I’m really proud of our team and the way they’ve represented the university off the field, as well as on. The fact that we’ve had twenty two graduates which I think is first and seven master’s degrees, which is also a first, speaks a lot to the quality and character of our players and creating an environment to help our players be successful as people, as students, and as football players. The focus here is something I think will be very important. I think maintaining intensity for a bowl game is one of the critical factors for any team in terms of their ability to get back to playing the kind of football that got them here. It’s also important that when you have a lot of time to prepare to expect the unexpected in terms of what the other team might do that you need to prepare and adjust to be in control and command how that affects you. Discipline is always very important when you haven’t played a game in a long time. It’s important to play with the discipline and eye control no matter what position you play so you have the chance to play sound fundamentally playing against a very good football team.”
(on having his players play in this type of environment before will be beneficial) “I really can’t speak to that. Truth is, anytime you can gain experience in situations like that you hope your players will handle it the right way because they’ve done it before and they understand what it takes. Sometimes we’ve had success in these situations and played really well and sometimes we haven’t played so well. Hopefully our players understand the difference between the two and what has made the difference in how we’ve performed and we can stay focused on the things that will help us play well.”
(on what they saw in terms of focus from the team in previous two weeks) “I think the players have done a great job before the holidays. Everybody enjoyed the three day break we had and came back with very good energy and enthusiasm.”
(on assistant coach Lane Kiffin) “He’s done a fantastic job on what we’ve asked him to do as offensive coordinator. I’m sure some of his head coaching experiences all contribute to his ability to teach and handle players. He does a good job organizationally with the staff. I’m sure the opportunity to be a head coach has enhanced that. He’s always been a very bright guy as an offensive coach and has done a fantastic job with our players. If you continue to have success and do a good job at what you’re doing, it’s going to create opportunities for you in the future. I certainly think that would be the case with Lane.”
(on what stands out about Ohio State the more he has seen them) “They’re an outstanding team in every phase of the game. They do a great job on special teams, they have good players, good team speed. They’re very well coached and offensively they’re very productive. Amazing they’ve used three different guys at the quarterback position and all have been very productive. It speaks well to their staff and how they use their players. They have an outstanding running back. They have at least three really good receivers that complement each other very well and have the capability to make explosive plays and create balance on offense. I think they’re defensive front is very physical and played hard against the running game. They’ve been aggressive with turnovers and hard to score on. I don’t think there’s any team that gets to here that is not a really good team. They’re all really well coached and it’s pretty typical of an Urban Meyer team.”
(on the challenges of playing a QB who’s only played one game) “I think the challenge is more the type of quarterback. They’ve done a great job with having a dual threat quarterback which is kind of a trademark of how they’ve played offense. Their quarterback has made a lot of plays throwing the ball, but they also make a lot of plays running the ball. How much they’ll do that with this particular guy is the question relative to what his strengths are. I think he demonstrated in the Wisconsin game he’s a very capable player and certainly a very good passer and they have the skill guys on the back end to make you pay in terms of making explosive plays.”
(on handling the structure of playing in a playoff and any differences in preparation) “None at all. I treat it like the playoffs in the fact that there’s only one game this week and that’s the only one that matters. If you don’t play well in that game and have success you don’t get to play in the next game. That’s how our focus and approach has been for this game. We’ve played thirteen games and this is the fourteenth one, it’s the most important to play their destined fourteenth game and prepare themselves to do that. And then if you have success you worry about the next game, but other than that I don’t know if it makes a whole lot of difference because it’s all about this game.”
ALABAMA SS LANDON COLLINS
(on being a part of college football history) “I love it. I ‘m glad to be a part of history. It’s going to be a fantastic moment for us and for this team.”
(on getting to play in front of his family) “It’s fantastic. It’s great to be down close to home. I’ll definitely get my shot to perform in front of them. It’s going to be a great experience. It’s good to be back.”
(on the team’s thoughts on Ohio State) “They are an excellent team. They play well. They play fast. It’s a great team to watch and we’re excited to get a shot at them.”
(on the feelings towards the playoff game) “Right now, it feels like business, and that is how we are going to treat it. We know what we have to do, so hopefully we bring home that win and move on to the next one.”
(on how last year has any effect on this game) “Last year, we worked hard to get to where we got, and we don’t want to experience what we experienced last year. We want to have a purpose for why we are here.”
(on the talk of the expansion of the playoff and compensation of players) “I don’t really want to talk about that. I’m not really in tune with all of that. Right now, I just want to play ball. Our coaches and association will deal with all of that.”
ALABAMA WR AMARI COOPER
(on how it feels different this year being a playoff game compared to last year) “I honestly don’t feel much of a difference. We came up here last year on a mission to win and it’s the same mission this year.”
(on if there is anything the team learned from last year in bowl season) “Anytime you have a goal and you don’t accomplish it, you feel like there’s something that you did wrong in the process of getting there. We’re just trying to do everything right in the process of getting there.”
(on how difficult it is to keep your feet on the ground and not get distracted) “I’ve always kept in mind, team first. You have one goal and you want to win a national championship, so that’s always been in the back of my mind.”
(on what jumps out at him about OSU’s defense) “They’re all good. They have a great defensive line. They have some really good cornerbacks.”
(on how last year’s loss helped him to improve for this year) “You could say that we learned from it, but we played many games after that, so we kind of forgot about it.”
(on if the team has laid down rules amongst themselves for keeping concentration) “We just have curfew, have to be in at a certain time.”
(on how he feels about being part of the first playoff game) “Right now it feels like, it’s always felt like. But I feel like in the future some time, maybe later on it’ll be something we can sit back and be proud of. Like I said, right now, the playoff game hasn’t really hit me, but I think later on, in the future we’ll be able to sit back and say we were one of the first teams in the college football playoffs.”
(on if it is hard to find ways to make sure you get the touches you need in the game) “You know, it’s a long game, sometimes you may not get the touches you want in the first quarter, second quarter or even the third quarter, but the fourth quarter is long also. It depends on the way the offense is going, how many plays we get in a certain series, and the down and distance. Sometimes you have to throw the ball; there are a lot of different things.”
(on how it feels practicing with Landon) “He’s great. Landon’s a great player. He’s a huge hitter, but I don’t get to see that part of him in practice, you know, lucky for me. I don’t really get to go up against him in a lot of man on man situations, it’s primarily the cornerback. I see enough of him in the game though and he’s a great player.”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
