The Alabama Crimson Tide haven't had the greatest two-week stretch. In Week 2, the Crimson Tide lost 34-24 to the Texas Longhorns, and that was the first home loss by double digits in the Nick Saban era. Then last week, after shuffling around the quarterbacks, Alabama squeaked past the USF Bulls with a 17-3 win. But in Week 4, Alabama faced off against the No. 15 Ole Miss Rebels. With that, Saban looked to avoid another loss to an ex-assistant coach.
Saban had nothing to worry about on Saturday, as Alabama defeated Ole Miss 24-10 to pick up their first SEC win of the season. Running back Jase McClellan led the way for the Crimson Tide, picking up 105 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
With Alabama now 3-1 on the year, lets take a look at what Saban said after the game.
Everything Nick Saban said after Alabama's Week 4 win over Ole Miss
After the game, Saban spoke with CBS Sports' Tiffany Blackmon and discussed how much better Alabama played in the second half than in the first, in which they trailed 7-6.
"I think we just focused better, we didn't make a lot of bad errors, and the guys played hard," said Saban. "I tell the guys: 'You gotta trust in each other. I can trust you to do the right thing, but you gotta trust each other to do it, and everybody's gotta be responsible to for that.' And I think they did a great job of that in the second half."
Blackmon also asked about the performance of quarterback Jalen Milroe, who was benched last week in favor of Tyler Buchner, and his mental and physical toughness in his return to the starting lineup.
"He took some shots today, but he did a great job out there executing the offense. Of course, the one bad interception in the end zone took some points off the board, but overall I was really pleased with the way he played and commanded the offense."
Milroe was benched the week prior in favor of Buchner, who was at Notre Dame with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees last season. However, Buchner was benched in the first half in favor of Ty Simpson. This week, Saban announced that Milroe would get the start again.
Against Ole Miss, Milroe completed 17-of-21 pass attempts for 225 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while running for 28 yards on 16 carries. Milroe's touchdown pass was a 33-yarder to Jalen Hale to pull Alabama further ahead 17-7.
In the early goings of the second half, there was miscommunication regarding what down it was. After a five-yard run by Roydell Williams, the officials failed to signal for a first down. With that, Saban called for Milroe to run a sneak up the middle for a one-yard gain. The thing is, that quarterback sneak actually occurred on first-and-10. So, that cost the Crimson Tide a down. That resulted in them settling for a 23-yard field goal by Will Reichard.
Saban said that he was "hot about that one" when speaking with reporters after the game, and said that while one official told him it was a first down, he pointed to the other official who spotted the football and said he never signaled for it.
"When stuff like that happens, the football gods aren't with you," said Saban, h/t The Athletic. "Because it's just a miscommunication, and we did not think in the press box that (Williams) made a first down. Most of the time, it's right away, first down, and then the guy marking the ball didn't signal first down.
"So it's bad on our part. If we weren't trying to go fast, we would have been able to recover from the situation, and that cost us really; we ended up kicking a field goal."
Luckily for the Crimson Tide, that confusion didn't cost the team in the long run, as they still won the game.
Next week, Alabama will go on the road and take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in another SEC matchup.
