Nick Saban Seeks Improved Second-Half Effort Against Texas A&M

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football coach Nick Saban spoke to the media via Zoom on Monday afternoon, ushering in the week that sees the Crimson Tide take on Texas A&M in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide is coming off of a 38-19 victory over Missouri on the road. While he was pleased with the win, Saban noted that the two halves of the game exhibited very different intensity levels from his players.

"I thought we really played well in the first half, which sort of goes to show the preparation, the focus that the players had going into the game, the good job that they did, sort of overcoming all the uncertainties and the disruptions that we had getting ready for the first game," Saban said. "But we also didn't maintain our intensity throughout the game. I don't think we really played with the same energy and enthusiasm in the second half and I think it showed in our performance."

Saban was particularly disappointed in his defense's effort in the second half. At halftime, the Crimson Tide was up 28-3. However, his team allowed 14 more points in the second half, which for Saban is a result of not enough effort.

In the first half, Alabama gave up just 113 yards to Missouri's offense. However, the second half saw the Tigers acquire 209 yards — almost double.

"We played pretty well in the first half," Saban said. "The second half not as well. There was a lot of formation adjustments and multiples that we had to adjust to in the game, and we made some mental errors relative to that. Some were costly. We stopped the run fairly well in the game. Probably made more errors in the passing game."

It wasn't all negativity from Saban in Monday's press conference, though. Overall Saban seemed pleased with his team's performance but just highlighted the mistakes that his team needed to improve on in order to perform better heading into the team's home opener against the Aggies.

For anyone familiar with Saban, it's well-known that the 68-year-old football coach is always looking for ways to improve his team.

"I think the guys played hard," Saban said. "They played with a lot of toughness. Missed a few tackles in the secondary, but none of them because we weren’t trying to be very aggressive. I was encouraged by the way we played. Now, obviously consistency in performance is going to be a big factor in that. And I don’t think we played as well when some of the other guys got in the game, which is going to be a great lesson for them to learn in terms of what they need to do to prepare so they can play well when their opportunity comes."