Saban talks up Bama’s ‘resilience’ in sloppy win

• Chris Low, ESPN Senior WriterOct 7, 2023, 10:35 PM ET

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  • College football press reporter
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

COLLEGE STATION, Texas– It was among those vintage Nick Saban minutes– a winning Alabama locker room that, to some, might have sounded more like a losing one.But not to his players.

“We got ta clean it up, and he’s going to let us understand that no matter what the scoreboard states,” senior receiver Jermaine Burton said. “That’s our standard– Alabama’s standard.”

That standard was good enough Saturday to earn Alabama its most significant triumph of the season, a 26-20 mistake-filled win over Texas A&M in the most hostile of environments prior to a packed house at Kyle Field.Down deep, Saban

was proud of his group’s steely willpower to in some way get rid of 14 charges, a goal recalled after Chris Braswell returned an obstructed basket attempt and the mismanagement of the clock at the end of the game.Editor’s Picks 2 Related “This may be the record game for me in regards to messing up and still

winning, if you take the mess-ups and the charges and include them up altogether,” said Saban, requiring a wry smile.”However then you look at the other side of all that, and what sort of strength and ability to conquer misfortune does someone have when you’re discussing the type of competitive spirit you have on your group– which I will take any day since we can repair the other things?”There were some around the college football world that left Alabama for dead after its 34-24 loss in the house to Texas in

Week 2 and after that a horrid revealing offensively a week later on in a 17-3 win at South Florida. But, now, at the midway point of the season, the No. 11 Crimson Tide(5-1, 3-0) are the only unbeaten group in the SEC’s Western Division in league play and head house for their next 3 games.” Next game up, next man up,”stated Burton, who had a career day with 9 catches for 197 yards and two touchdowns.”That’s always going to be the mentality around here.” Nobody has actually welcomed that mentality more than quarterback Jalen Milroe, who has stayed the course, becoming more comfortable as Alabama’s”point guard”

— as Saban has implored him to be– and beginning to make more winning plays than the sort of plays that landed him on the bench the entirety of the South Florida game.As Milroe left the field Saturday, the Alabama fans in the corner of that end zone showered him with cheers. Milroe put a hand approximately his ear as if to say,”I can’t hear you,”and the cheers grew

only louder. He finished 21-of-33 for 321 backyards and three goals. And as an indicator of his development, he didn’t enable an awful interception to open the 2nd half to drag him down the rest of the game.All 3 of his touchdown passes can be found in difficult down-and-distance scenarios. His 52-yard connection with Isaiah Bond in the second quarter began second-and-15. Then after his pick in the third quarter, Milroe threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Burton on third-and-14 to connect the score at 17. He put the Crimson Tide ahead to stick with a 19-yarder to Burton on third-and-9 to liquidate the third quarter.”We’re nowhere near the finish line, “Milroe said.”We’re nowhere near to what we want to accomplish. We have a great deal of work to do, therefore I’m excited for the future.” In five games this season, Milroe has belonged of 26 plays of 20 yards or longer, and nine were touchdowns. Approved, he still takes too many sacks sometimes. And his pass attempt on initially down in the last minutes Saturday, when Alabama

was just attempting to go hurry-up so that Texas A&M couldn’t challenge the previous play, was anything however ideal.But it’s obvious his colleagues are rallying around him. “I do not really believe he’s fretting about it, “Burton stated.” Like after that very first pick, we resembled,’ We’re excellent, we’re good, baby. Do not trip. Let’s just keep going.'”Saban has stated from the beginning

that this would be a various challenge this season, specifically with the Crimson Tide not knowing this summer season who their quarterback would be. Their past four quarterbacks returning to the 2016 season are all present beginners in the NFL. And, keep in mind, Alabama generated transfer Tyler Buchner from Notre Dame following spring practice when both Milroe and Ty Simpson had their struggles.But as Milroe’s associates, both in practice and games, have actually increased, so has the self-confidence around him. “One of the important things that Jalen has actually discovered is just to keep playing the next play and concentrate on that play, “Saban said.”You’re going to make errors. Bad things are going to happen in some cases, but you’ve got to be a point player, guy. You have actually got to make lots of assists, not many turnovers, but you can’t let the turnover that you do make trouble you. Distribute the ball to the remainder of the guys on the team and let them make plays.” Saban joked at the start of his postgame news conference Saturday that there was excellent news and problem. “We have actually got a bit of both, “Saban said.But in the very same breath, he stressed that he couldn’t be prouder of his group for the way it completed, especially in the 2nd half after routing 17-10 at halftime.”For guys to pull themselves approximately conquer difficulty, this is an excellent win for our

team. It was a fantastic win for the program,”Saban said.”It was an opportunity for this team to sort of program who they are in

terms of what type of team we have, and I think

we can have an actually, truly great team. Our self-inflicted wounds are something that we are going to have to solve due to the fact that they’re all fixable, and we certainly need to do that if we’re going to be able to complete at a high level in the future.”Amongst the other problem was losing senior protective back Malachi Moore in the first half to a high ankle sprain. Moore is Alabama’s a lot of flexible defensive back, and there’s no timetable at this point on for how long he might be out.Either way, Alabama’s defense is playing at a level today that has long been a plan for success for Saban-coached teams. Because losing 34-24 to Texas, Alabama’s defense has enabled just 5 goals in its previous four games and added a security in the win over Texas

A&M, which distressed then-No. 1 Alabama two years earlier when the Tide were in town.”A great deal of individuals actually wished to see us lose, and they wanted to storm the field, “Burton said.” I didn’t wish to see that occur.”