The Alabama Crimson Tide went to College Station on Saturday and flirted with an upset, but they went home with a 26-20 win instead.
"What do you want to talk about first? The good news or the bad news?" Head coach Nick Saban opened his postgame presser. "We've got a little bit of both."
Saban avoided another upset at the hands of a former assistant. That was the good news. The bad news was the sloppiness of the Crimson Tide's performance made it clear once more that Alabama will be vulnerable to more upset bids until they clean things up.
Nick Saban postgame press conference after Alabama's win over Texas A&M
Saban is always willing to discuss the areas his team didn't live up to his expectations, but he started by praising the Tide for their resilience.
"I could never be more proud of a group of guys for the way we competed in the game, the way we competed in the second half," Saban said. "The message going into the game was don't give the other team anything. Play with poise. Execute. Do your job. Stay focused throughout the game. There were times in the game I felt like we lost our poise a little bit. But in the second half, we competed and did a fantastic job."
Saban was pleased with quarterback Jalen Milroe and the way he threw the ball, especially with the Alabama running game unable to get things going.
"The tenacity that our players showed, the competitive spirit, the resilient attitude to overcome adversity, a lot of which we created for ourselves — having 14 penalties in the game, mismanaging things and the clock at the end of the game — really gave them opportunities that we need to be able to fix those things so we don't help the other team," Saban said.
Saban highlighted what a great win it was over a tough team to beat on the road.
"I think we can have a really, really good team, but I just think self-inflicted wounds are going to be something we can resolve because they're all fixable and we certainly need to do that if we're going to be able to compete at a high level in the future."
It isn't just a player issue in Saban's mind either. Collectively the
"This may be the record game for me in terms of messing up and still winning," Saban said.
That's the big takeaway for Alabama: A win is a win. The key is taking all the things that almost led to a loss and cutting them out next time so that winning is a whole lot easier.
