Let’s take a quick tour of the SEC to see what the head coaches were talking about on Saturday following their Week 4 games:

NICK SABAN, ALABAMA

On his team’s effort in a shutout win against UL-Monroe: “I was pleased with the fact that our guys went out there and competed hard in the game. We really tried to take a step in the direction of establishing the kind of identity that we want to have as a football team. We played with a lot of toughness, especially on defense. To give a team around 90 yards is really good. I thought we tackled well in space and we got a couple turnovers. We did a good job on third down, especially in the first half and that was really positive. I thought offensively, we stopped ourselves way too many times. We had five dropped balls and several of those were on third downs.”

BRET BIELEMA, ARKANSAS

On the Razorbacks dropping their third game in a row to Texas A&M in overtime: “Coming over here I knew we had a good football team, and I’m tired of keeping it a secret. During the course of the football game we did some many things that ended up costing ourselves… the penalties today were just absolutely critical.”

GUS MALZAHN, AUBURN

On where the season goes after two consecutive SEC losses: “You can see we have a bunch of young guys, inexperienced guys, and we have a chance to grow. That’s what we’re doing. We’re going to get better. I promise you that. We’ll see what happens. We’ll turn it around. There are a lot of things we’re going to build upon. That’s what I told our team. They fought their guts out.”

JIM MCELWAIN, FLORIDA

On comeback win against Tennessee: “Our guys didn’t panic and that was good to see. They played their hearts out for the Gators and all the Gator fans and all the Gators that played before them. I think there’s a feeling deep down, you know, that we just don’t lose to Tennessee. And they didn’t.”

MARK RICHT, GEORGIA

On emptying the bench in a blowout win against Southern: “Everybody works hard and wants the opportunity to play. When you get a chance to play a lot of guys, it’s good for morale and it’s good for experience. I’m glad we got the game in position to do that. It’ll be fun watching the tape.”

MARK STOOPS, KENTUCKY

On taking down the back-to-back SEC champions: “(Missouri is a) very great football team. Very well coached and we have a lot of respect for them and what they do. They win a lot of games. Winning the SEC East two years in a row, and they never seem to lose on the road. Just a very good football team. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game and just proud of the complete effort by our team. It’s really — you ask me specific questions right now and it’s really like a blur to me, to be honest with you.

LES MILES, LSU

On the development of QB Brandon Harris as the season progresses: “ I think Brandon Harris is coming along. I think the quarterback is giving us the solution that we need. He’s not rattled easily, he recognizes the things he can do and cannot do. He’ll continue to improve, but I like his progress. We just have to control the game more.”

DAN MULLEN, MISSISSIPPI STATE

On the performance of his defense in a road win against Auburn: “”I thought our defense played unbelievably well. Lot of talented players on that Auburn team. Keeping them out of the end zone for the night was fantastic.”

GARY PINKEL, MISSOURI

On dropping SEC opener for first loss of the season: “We don’t lose a lot of football games. It takes a little piece out of you. This will not define us.”

HUGH FREEZE, OLE MISS

On his team’s performance against Vanderbilt: “We did not have our team prepared as well, especially in some critical areas, such as third downs and red zones. We scored some points there, but we need to get more efficient. There were a lot of penalties. We had 11 penalties tonight for 120 yards. We turned the ball over tonight. That is not stuff that is elite football. We just did not play well.”

STEVE SPURRIER, SOUTH CAROLINA

On the play of freshman QB Lorenzo Nunez in Saturday’s 31-14 win against UCF: “I think he played a little better than we all anticipated. We knew he could run, but he hit a bunch of passes. He hit Pharoh, (Cooper) he hit Jerell (Adams) a couple of times. I think he threw the ball a lot better than maybe we anticipated. He’s a gamer, I think we learned that.”

BUTCH JONES, TENNESSEE

On why he chose to kick an extra point up 26-14 in the fourth quarter instead of go for a 2-point conversion, which may have ultimately cost his team a chance to win the 28-27 game at Florida: “Well, a number of reasons, and we were discussing that prior to the drive. If we did score whether we go for one or two, we have a chart that is pretty standard in football first of all and maps it all. We just felt like at that stage in the game that we had great confidence in our defense of getting off the football field and allowing them to push the ball down the field so we felt very comfortable with the decision.”

KEVIN SUMLIN, TEXAS A&M

On comeback overtime win against Arkansas: “I was happy with how our guys continued to play and finish out a game. That’s something I think we can learn from going forward and take a little confidence out of it. I thought the look in our eye late in the fourth quarter and in overtime was a look of confidence, and I haven’t seen that in a while.”

DEREK MASON, VANDERBILT

On losing a hard-fought 27-16 game at Ole Miss: “We had opportunities tonight. We lost to a good Ole Miss Rebels football team. But in that, we tell these guys there’s never any solace in that. We play to win. We came here to win, and we came up a little short.”