If Nick Saban is worried about one thing this week, he will tell you it isn’t Tennessee. He says he is worried about personal control.
“I’m always concerned about our team,” Saban said at his press conference on Monday. “It’s always a concern to me. I don’t know if anybody noticed, but I wasn’t the happiest camper in the second half or after the game for that matter because we weren’t in control of the game and we didn’t control the game. I think it’s always an issue, regardless of who you’re playing.”
Saban was still upset by his defensive unit’s performance against Arkansas during the second half. Saban’s offense only put up 7 points during the second half, but what troubled Saban the most was his team not getting off the field on third down, allowing Arkansas to run around 50 offensive plays in the second half.
“Sometimes you win, but did you really control?” Saban asked. “I don’t think we really controlled the game in the second half. That’s not something that we can do in the future and continue to win. We’re just not going to do it. It’s not going to happen, not when you play good teams and Arkansas was a good team.”
Arkansas had driven into the red zone, threatening to score when cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick intercepted Austin Allen’s pass and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown. The scoreboard went to 49-24 in favor of Alabama, but if things had gone differently, it could have been 42-31 and the game would have taken on a different complexion.
Saban knows his team can’t let up against Tennessee, a team that has developed a reputation for late comebacks. Even Saturday against Texas A&M, the team rallied to tie the game and send it into overtime. The team fell short in double overtime but still managed to outscore the Aggies 21-7 in the fourth quarter.
“When you relax, you let the momentum of the game change, and that’s hard to get back,” Saban said. “The way people score points now — there’s been numerous games where people were ahead by 21 points and end up losing the game. I need for everybody on the team to understand that, whether you’re playing on special teams, offense, defense, it’s really, really important.”
Saban probably wasn’t thinking of this when he made reference to the 21-point deficit, but Alabama actually trailed Ole Miss 24-3 earlier this season and rallied to beat the Rebels. So Alabama is living proof that a team can come back from 21 points down to win a game.
Earlier this season, Tennessee trailed Florida 21-0 before coming back to outscore Florida in the second half 35-7 and win the game, 38-28. Tennessee also trailed Georgia 17-0 before coming back to win the game with a Hail Mary, 34-31.
“You either control the game — forget about winning the game — you’re either in control of the game or you’re not,” Saban said. “If you don’t stay in control of the game, then you’re giving the other team a lot of opportunity to gain the momentum in the game that they need to get back in the game and maybe come back and have a chance to beat you.”
The Arkansas game might have been just the reminder Alabama needed to practice personal control, or maybe not. We’ll all know if Saban’s message got through to his players or not on Saturday.
