Anytime Anyone Doubts the Merits of the Triple Option–Show Them This
January 7, 2014
Nick Saban’s three-minute rant about Georgia Southern’s Triple Option Offense–Video.
Head Coach Nick Saban Statement
“In my opinion that was a good win for us. That’s a good little team we played out there today. When I say little team, I don’t mean literally. Those guys played hard and played with a lot of toughness. They really did a good job of running their offense. It’s a tough offense to get prepared for. It’s totally different than what we do all the time. We obviously didn’t execute the way we wanted to on defense all the time. We did a better job in the second half. That was really important.
I think it was really important that our offense did a fantastic job of controlling the ball. They were always able to answer the bell and do a really a good job of not allowing them to have the ball. The time of possession was really good for us. I was really pleased with the way we competed. We played a lot better in the second half than we did the first. We did a good job on third down to keep the drives going. We always answered when we needed to. I was very disappointed on the kick-off return. We had good kick-off coverage until that one. We had a guy miss a tackle and a couple guys dodge a block the wrong way. The safeties were not in a good position. It was not very good execution.
I think we are all responsible in terms of the way this team’s able to run the ball against us. We had a lot of guys hurt up front. We were down to about three or four defensive lineman toward the end of the game. We did get a chance to play a few other guys on defense. This is a tough team. They are a good team. They are very good at what they do. It’s a tremendous advantage for them when you only have a few days to prepare for something that they do extremely well. I thought our players adapted and adjusted and did a good job in the second half. Even though I thought the scout team did a really good job giving us a look at this, it happens a lot faster than what you see in practice. The ball gets on the perimeter quicker. The lead blockers get out there faster. The big problem was that we didn’t have support and we got chopped a lot.
It’s a good win for us. I’m really proud of the seniors. I’m glad that we could go out there and get a win for them. Georgia Southern is 9-1 for a reason. They really should be 10-0. They are one of the better top couple teams in their division. They run an offense that is very difficult to defend, especially when we don’t play against them a lot. Our offensive line did a good job and Trent did a really good job of running the ball. AJ McCarron played extremely well for us. This has been a tough week for us from a defensive standpoint and I’m glad it’s over.”
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