Nick Saban addresses the challenges posed by Florida, how he expects Gators to rebound from LSU loss
By Keith Farner
Published:
Alabama coach Nick Saban sees some similarities from last year’s LSU team when preparing for Florida this week ahead of the SEC Championship Game.
“This team is as explosive as anyone in the country on offense,” Saban said at a Monday press conference. “They’ve got really good skill players, really good quarterback, good balance on offense. Dan (Mullen) does a great job in terms of calling plays, formations, adjustments. A lot of similarities to LSU’s style of play last year in terms of mismatch players that they have and they’ve done a good job of utilizing all of their talents in a very positive way.”
Saban said the conference title game is a great competitive venue, and it’s a tribute to the Crimson Tide and the success they’ve had throughout the season. Saban said the Florida matchup will be a challenge for Alabama’s defense.
“Their defense is very, very athletic, makes a lot of negative plays,” Saban said. “They’ve got some good pass rushers, they mix it up on the back end pretty good. They’ve got some good pressure so it’ll be a good challenge for us offensively. I think a great week of preparation is always important when you play a team like this, this not a common opponent to us, so some of the things that they do will be unfamiliar to our players. A great week of preparation is certainly necessary to overcome some of those things. … We have challenges in every phase of the game this week.”
About the Gators coming off the loss to LSU, Saban said they will be motivated to play their best.
“I’m sure that they have a lot of pride in their performance and they’ll want to prove that they’re a very good team,” Saban said. “We expect them to play their best against us, like a lot of teams do and they certainly have a very talented team, and they’re certainly capable of beating any team in the country and it was maybe what I feared at Arkansas, what happened to our team looking ahead.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
