Everything Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban and Bryce Young Said About Facing the No. 11 Florida Gators
It will be a marquee showdown in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday night, as the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide come to town to face the hometown No. 11 Florida Gators. Alabama head coach Nick Saban met with local Tuscaloosa media on Monday to preview the matchup.
As a valued GatorBait subscriber, we are offering you everything Nick Saban said about facing Mullen, Florida's strengths and preparing for the Gators two-QB system.
Nick Saban
On what challenges Florida will present for Bama in their SEC opener:
"First SEC game, facing a very good, you know, top 10 Florida team*, who we have a tremendous amount of respect for. Obviously looking forward to that challenge, playing on the road, you know, in a difficult place to play. But from an injury standpoint, [linebacker] Will Anderson has been very encouraging. Probably take a day off today, is kind of day to day, but we feel a little a little more encouraged than maybe after the game. So we'll see how, you know, he progresses through the course of the week.
"Dan Mullen has done an outstanding job wherever he's been the coach. He did a great job at Mississippi State. Obviously, they won the SEC East last year. You know, excellent coach, does a great job of utilizing the personnel that he has; has some really talented guys on offense, really good running backs. Both quarterbacks—using the two quarterback system—are very capable passers, as well as making plays with their feet, whether it's quarterback runs, play action passes, whatever.
"And they have, you know, they just got good players. They're offensive line is, you know, improved and better this year, playing better in my opinion. That's why they're, like second in the nation in rushing**, which is going to be a real challenge for us. And then not allowing big plays when you're trying to stop the run, defensively.
"[Defensive coordinator] Todd [Grantham] always presents challenges. He's a really good defensive coordinator. They've got good players, they play hard, they play together. So we have to do a good job of executing, you know, offensively as well. They've always got great team speed. So they're special teams are good, they have good specialists. I think the punter is one of the top guys in the country***. So all around, this is a very good team. They are very challenging game for us. And you know, so we need to have great focus this weekend. Great preparation."
*Florida is ranked No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 11 in the AP Top 25 Poll.
**The Gators are actually FIRST in the nation in rushing, averaging 381.5 rushing yards per game
***Crenshaw would be tied for the 16th best yards per punt in the country, but he hasn't punted enough times to qualify to be ranked.
On preparing for the Gators 2-QB system with Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson:
"I don't think you prepare differently. You know, both guys have ability to make plays passing and they run the same sort of quarterback runs with both guys and both guys are very talented in both areas. So you know, when the quarterback can run and they run quarterback runs, that's almost like playing as Wildcat so they've got an extra blocker. But they also have the ability to make big plays in the passing game, which they've made and been pretty efficient in the passing game. So it's more challenging when you play against, you know, guys, and both guys are very efficient, effective passers as well as runners."
*Emory Jones is averaging 132 passing yards per game and Anthony Richardson is averaging 96 passing yards per game. On the ground, Jones is averaging 77.5 yards per game and Richardson is averaging 137.5 yards per game. The duo leads the team in both categories.
On Bama's sophomore quarterback Bryce Young making his first true road start in a hostile environment:
"I think we got a little taste of that playing in Atlanta, even though it wasn't the crowd noise, probably there that will have this week. Just got to play with poise. And that's one thing that Bryce has done in both games, is he's been able to keep his poise. He's able to stay focused on doing things that we need to do. But I think it's the entire offense that has to be able to keep their poise in these situations, whether it's silence, snap count, or whatever we have to do to be able to operate. I think we have to do it as a unit. And I think it starts with the quarterback. But he has shown really good poise so far this year."
On facing a Dan Mullen run offense and how it's changed over the years:
"It changes relative to the personnel that he has; I think that's what he does really, really well. They obviously didn't run a whole lot of quarterback runs last year, you know, with the quarterback that they had, he was a really good passer. They had really good skill guys, and they were great passing team.
"This year, they're still a really good passing team, but they have the added element of quarterback runs, which, when [Mullen] was at Mississippi State, you know, it was sort of the same, kind of, you know, 'what players do I have, what can they do, and I'm going to make sure that these guys are doing the things that they do well.' And I think that what makes him a great offensive coach is he does a great job of utilizing the personnel that he has, getting the ball to playmakers and if the quarterback has running ability, they'll they'll use them in the running game as well."
*Mullen and Saban have faced each other 10 times over the years, with Saban going 10-0 during that time
On facing Florida for the first time in the regular season since 2014 and first time in Gainesville since 2011 and if he'd like the SEC to change the format so these games happen more often:
"We played them in the SEC Championship game last year and, obviously, they had an outstanding team. So, look, I don't want to get into the whole scheduling thing. But, you know, we played 10 SEC games last year. I thought it was great for fans, I thought it was great for the matchups. You know I've always been one that advocated playing more SEC games in the regular season so that every player in every program would have the opportunity to play every team in the SEC. So, you know, to answer your question, yeah."
Bryce Young
On what he's seen in film study from the Gators defense:
"It's a really good group, they have a really good group defensively, you know, really top to bottom, extremely talented. They do a good job defensively schematically. And they make make good adjustments. I've seen them communicate well, but really top to bottom, just from watching them on film, they're a group that we know we have to prepare for, a group that we know we have to go out and practice for. Again, we're going to a hostile environment, playing a really good team. And defensively, they're really good. So you know, we know that as a unit, and we know that it's going to take everything and all the preparation and, you know, we're gonna have to attack this week in able to, in order to, you know, go out and perform on Saturday."
On what he learned about Florida while watching from the sidelines during last year's SEC Championship game:
"I think it was great for me to be able to watch that, you know, be there and be able to learn. You know, two quarterbacks [Kyle Trask and Mac Jones] playing really well, two teams playing really well. Last year, you know, I felt like it was just, you know, it was a back and forth battle. You can definitely see the heart they showed, the resiliency they showed, they fought to the end, you know. They were a team that was that was really, really good last year. And again, a team that is really, really good this year. So for me, you know, being able to see that, it was a really good learning experience for me.
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