Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke to the media Sunday afternoon after it was unveiled that the Crimson Tide will face Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff.
Here’s a rundown of what he said:
— On the game: “I’m really proud of our team for the opportunity that they created for themselves. Had a lot of adversity and disruptions during the course of the season to get to this point. It’s an honor for us to be in the College Football Playoff, playing against an outstanding Notre Dame team who I’d like to congratulate on the great season that they had. They’ve got some really, really good players and they’ve played well as a team all year long.”
— On if he had a preference in terms of semifinal locations: “We had no preference. We’re just happy to be in a game. ... We had no preference at all.”
— On the two week break leading up to the game: “I think this whole season has been a little bit unique and abnormal in a lot of different ways. We know exactly what the circumstance is, so we try to plan the best we can to get our players prepared the best we can so that they can play up to their capabilities in this game. There’s an adequate amount of time to do that. We don’t have the long break like we usually do, which obviously helps you get healthy with some of the players that have issues at this time of the season. ... But we’re going to try to use this week to get guys ready to go and use this week as a little bit of preparation, give our players three days off and then come back and have a pretty normal week. In some ways, the rhythm of the season is more connected this year than it is when you have that 3-4 week break, which is a hard management as well.”
— On playing in front of more fans than would have been the case with the other semifinal location: “I don’t think there’s any question about the fact that it is an advantage for our fans. It’s an advantage for the families of our team that they have the opportunity to go see the game. This is a great venue that we’re playing in and we’re pleased and happy that we’re involved.”
— On the loss of standout center Landon Dickerson: “Landon is a hard guy to replace because of his leadership, his personality. He’s very inspirational in a lot of ways to all of his teammates. I don’t know that you replace a guy like that, but we have confidence in Chris Owens.”
— On how Alabama has changed since last playing Notre Dame in the 2012 national title game: “I think the basic fundamental culture that we try to create in our program has not really changed that much in terms of helping players be more successful in life for having been in the program, whether it’s personal development, academic support, career development, development as football players. But how we play on the field, we’ve probably changed as the game has changed, play with a little different style on offense. We were more run the ball, play-action pass, NFL-type offense probably back in the 2012 days than we are right now, more NFL style but also incorporated a lot of the spread concepts of RPOs and those types of things. We’ve evolved a little bit as the game has evolved on the field, but the culture, the program really hasn’t changed.”
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December 21, 2020 at 06:10AM
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What Nick Saban said about Playoff matchup vs. Notre Dame - AL.com
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