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CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPJanuary 7, 2019Nick SabanTua TagovailoaXavier McKinneySanta Clara, California Clemson 44, Alabama 16 THE MODERATOR: We'll take opening statements, then we will entertain questions for the student athletes and then we will go ahead and take questions for Coach. With that, Coach, when you're ready, an opening comment. NICK SABAN: Well, obviously we're all very, very disappointed, but I'd like to say that I'm very, very proud of what our team was able to accomplish this year, to win 14 games, win the SEC, win the Orange Bowl, have an opportunity to play for the National Championship, really proud of our players, really proud of our team. And I don't think that one game necessarily defines who you are, and that's certainly what I'd like for our players to know. I think you learn a lot from experiences like this. We certainly didn't play very well tonight, and we had some issues. We couldn't get off the field on third down, we gave up a couple big time explosive plays on third down, third down and 13, third down and 9. We had plenty of opportunities to score offensively, have the ball at the 1-yard line, get a penalty, end up kicking a field goal, have it down there a couple more times, do a fake field goal and go for it on fourth down and don't make it, get stopped on the goal line and 1-yard line another time. Got to congratulate Clemson. They did a very, very good job. Their quarterback is really good, their skill players are really good. We actually stopped the run pretty well and created enough third-down situations, we just couldn't get off the field on third down, couldn't capitalize on our opportunities that we had on offense. But the seniors on this team have done a fantastic job of representing the University of Alabama. I think they've won 50-some games or whatever since they've been here, and they've been a class group and provided a lot of leadership and a lot of good examples for the young players on our team, and we certainly appreciate them and wish them well in their future. Q. Tua, what was Clemson doing to confuse you, specifically on the two interception plays? TUA TAGOVAILOA: I don't think it was anything that they were doing that stopped us. That was totally a bad decision. It was a poor decision on my part. I just think we came out, and we were killing ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot by me throwing that interception for a touchdown, and then not finishing drives the way we wanted to. Just didn't go the way we wanted to. Q. Obviously you knew coming in that Trevor Lawrence was not just a freshman at this point in the season anymore, but what did you think actually getting out there and seeing what he did out there on the field tonight? NICK SABAN: Well, it was no surprise to me. I think he's played extremely well all year long. We knew that their receiving corps was probably the most talented that we've seen as a group all year long. 8, 5, 13, those guys are really, really talented guys, and again, I said it earlier, we had opportunities to get off the field on third down, and we couldn't get off the field. I mean, they were like 8 of 11 at one point in time, 10 of 15 for the game, and we gave up big plays, not just first downs, but we gave up big plays. That and the combination of us not finishing drives, I mean, when you look at the stats of the game and they basically had the ball for the last 10 minutes of the game, but if you look at the stats of the game, their yards and all that are fairly equal. But the score, because of turnovers, not finishing drives in the red zone, not getting off the field on third down, giving up explosive plays, score doesn't indicate anything like that. Q. Tua, what did you see as the issues for you guys in the red zone? TUA TAGOVAILOA: We just weren't executing what we were -- what the plays were. We just didn't punch it in. That's basically all it was. Q. Xavier, was the team you saw out on the field different from the team you watched on film? XAVIER MCKINNEY: No, we just didn't execute. We didn't do -- we had a lot of busts, a lot of things that we could have did better, and that's basically it. Q. Xavier, I'd ask you to expand on that a little bit. What did you see from Trevor that maybe you guys hadn't seen from any other quarterbacks that you faced this year? XAVIER MCKINNEY: He could throw the ball well. There was nothing really different. A lot of it was what we were doing. A lot of stuff that we didn't execute, so I feel like that was just mainly on our part and what we were doing. Q. Xavier and Tua, this team coming in here 14-0 really epitomized I think the resiliency that you want to see in an ideal scenario. What do you take away from this season, and taking away from tonight, are there things that you feel like you want to focus on coming out of this? XAVIER MCKINNEY: Well, of course we had a great season. It didn't end the way we wanted it to end. A lot of that defensively, I blame myself a lot for how we played today, and I just know me personally that I'm going to try my hardest and make sure that this doesn't happen again. But I thought we played -- we had a great season, it just didn't end the way we wanted it to end. TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, you know, just like what Xavier said. We had a great season, but five words: Good is not good enough. We didn't finish the way we wanted to finish. We didn't do the things we needed to do to execute and be successful in this game, and that's all it is. Q. Xavier and Tua, I would like to know what was said in the locker room postgame, specifically with the seniors, as well, maybe a final message to the seniors? TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, it wasn't anything different. From the seniors, from Coach Saban, just go out there, we've got to execute, play at a fast level, high level of intensity, focus on what you've got to do, play-by-play, and that was it. We've just got to go out there and just do what we do. XAVIER MCKINNEY: I mean, every game, we treat every game the same. We know we try to come out there and play hard every night, every Saturday, whenever we play. It's never a different way how we play. There's always one way, and that's the Bama way. It's never we feel differently about how we're going to play. We know how we should play and how we're expected to play. Q. Nick, to what do you attribute the number of mistakes and the lack of execution? NICK SABAN: Well, you know, first of all, you've got to give Clemson a little bit of credit. They have a really good team. I think the responsibility for us not playing well really starts with me. You know, we obviously didn't go out there and they did do some things that we weren't prepared for, but you always expect that -- a couple bunch passes that Oklahoma ran and some other people that we had to make adjustment to at halftime. But I thought the players prepared well for this game, and I think that they just got out-performed. It wasn't like we just didn't cover a guy. I mean, we tried to cover No. 8. He caught the ball, made a big play. We were in three-deep zone when No. 5 catches a ball and runs 50 yards, 60 yards for a touchdown, guy doesn't play the deep third properly. So you know, those responsibilities start with me, our staff and all the coaches who try to get these guys ready, and when we don't play well, I feel like that's a reflection on the job that we did, the job that I did. You know, but Clemson did a really, really good job. I know the score. There's a lot of good things that our team did out there today, especially on offense, and we did stop the run on defense, but we couldn't get off the field on third down. I mean, sometimes we just didn't get them covered. A couple times we made some errors on things that they did that we had not practiced that were difficult, and they're pretty good. Q. Nick, again, you haven't experienced a loss like this in your tenure. What was going through your head as it was unfolding? And also, do you think some of the long-standing issues maybe were exposed, the field goal kicking forced you into decisions that maybe you might not want to make, and also the secondary depth being a problem and that kind of came to the surface in this game? NICK SABAN: Well, we have had some issues with the guys that are not out there playing, and I think sometimes you have to be fortunate because when you play against good teams, you need that depth and you need those people. I think it was a poor decision on my part not to kick the field goal, the first drive of the second half. We thought we had a really, really good fake, and somebody didn't block the guy they were supposed to block, so it didn't work, so it was a bad call. It's always that way. We didn't finish drives in the red zone because we could have got right back in the game now. We had the ball down there three times and didn't score a point, didn't score a point. We had a fake field goal, went for it on fourth down twice, had the ball on the 1-yard line. So I mean, this game could have been a little different if we'd have finished things a little better. But we didn't play well enough on defense to win because if you can't get off the field on third down you're going to have a hard time when you're playing against a good team. But there was nothing going through my head except what can I do to help our team play better the next play, and we just kept not being able to finish things the way we wanted to. I feel like it's my responsibility that those things didn't happen properly. Q. We've known for some time in college football that true freshmen are very much able to contribute, including of course on your teams. That said, with Trevor Lawrence doing this this year, I'm wondering how you've seen it evolve in college football where even in past decades where -- even the most recent recruiting class you bring in can make such a huge difference at the end of the year. NICK SABAN: Well, Trevor Lawrence is a special talent. I saw him when he was a sophomore, and he was a special player as a sophomore in high school. And he's playing in a good system, in a good scheme. That's somewhat similar to what he played in high school. And I think that -- I got this asked at the press conference the other day, why are more freshmen able to play, especially at quarterback, and I think there's a greater similarity with the offense that they grow up with and the offense that they play in college. So there's a lot more similarities. And I think the quarterback position is a little easier now because it's not all drop-back oriented. RPOs have made it very simple for the quarterback in a lot of ways. So not a surprise to me, and I think you'll see more and more young quarterbacks be able to contribute early on because of those similarities and their training. Their training is better. We have seven-on-sevens all over the country, we've got great quarterback coaches that help these guys develop early in their careers, but Trevor has always been a special talent in my mind, and it doesn't surprise me. He's got the right stuff as a person, and he's played phenomenally well for his team this year. Q. I noticed when you were leaving the field you were looking over your notes. I wondered what you were seeing there, what you were thinking, and also, like I asked the players, this team I think did show great resiliency all through the season. What is your takeaway from this team and maybe what you want to focus on moving forward with them? NICK SABAN: Well, I sort of made the same opening comments that I made to our team. I told them how proud I was of what they were able to accomplish. I know how disappointed we all are and they are and the way we didn't finish and the way we performed in this particular game. But they accomplished a lot, and we're really proud of them. Winning the SEC, winning the Orange Bowl and winning 14 games, I mean, our seniors have done a phenomenal job. I think they've won like 54 games in their career or whatever. So one game doesn't define who you are. But I also told the players that sometimes we learn more when things don't go well, when we lose. You have to learn how to lose as well as how you win. And there's a lot of lessons for us to learn from the experience that we had in this game, whether you're a senior who's leaving or whether you're a player who's coming back and you see that we have work to do. Q. With that defensive line of yours, were you surprised you weren't able to generate more consistent pressure on Lawrence, and did you feel that he got more comfortable as the game went on because of that? NICK SABAN: Well, I thought that if we were going to have an opportunity, the best way to defend them is to rush four guys and play different kinds of coverages, and when we rushed four guys, we didn't get a lot of pressure. Their offensive line did a good job. He was very comfortable in the pocket, had time to throw, and we didn't get him covered very well in the back end at times. A combination of those things I think really made it more difficult for us because one of the things that they do extremely well with the players that they have, a mismatch, 8 and 5 outside is when you play middle-of-the-field coverage and you try to pressure, they've been very successful against that all year long, and Trevor Lawrence is very good at throwing the fade ball, back shoulders, whatever it is. And their two guys are really, really good at making plays on the 50/50 balls, which we knew would be a big part of what we needed to do well in this game, and I think maybe we made one play on a 50/50 ball and got one other pass interference. Q. You've said to me in the past that you tend to remember the losses much more than the wins. Outside of the scoreboard, what do you think you'll remember most about tonight? NICK SABAN: I just have a feeling that I didn't do a very good job for our team, with our team, giving them the best opportunity to be successful. I always feel that way, even sometimes when we win, I think there's things we could do better or that I could have done better. But particularly in this case, never really ever got comfortable with what we needed to do to win this game, especially on defense, especially the match-ups we had in our secondary versus their receivers. That was something that was kind of bothering me going into the game, and as the game unfolded, it worked out that those match-ups were a big difference in the game. As always, I appreciate -- I know y'all think I don't like the press, but I really do love you for what you do to give a lot of positive self-gratification to a lot of our players by recognizing the things they do well, and we certainly appreciate all the interest you create for our sport, and college football is a great game and something that's great for these young people to be able to learn a lot of lessons in life, so we appreciate you so much for that, so thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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