It has been almost 24 hours since Alabama won the Iron Bowl in dramatic fashion over Auburn, 24-22.
Now it’s time for the Tide to turn the page to Georgia and Saturday’s SEC championship game in Atlanta.
Nick Saban held a special SEC teleconference previewing the game Sunday afternoon. Here were the highlights:
-- Saban said Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country for “good reason,” and is “probably the most consistent, most dominant team from week in, week out.” It will take a “lot of quality work” during the week and Alabama will need to do “the best it can” against a quality team, Saban said.
-- Saban said Georgia’s defense is No. 1 in the nation and that “speaks for itself.”
-- Saban said Brian Robinson has a lower body pulled muscle. “We’ll kind of see how he progresses through the course of the week and see where he’s at,” Saban said.
-- Saban said it is difficult to say how players physically will respond after a four-overtime Iron Bowl, and that both teams had to play Saturday. “These guys are young, so they got plenty of time to recover.”
-- Asked about Georgia defensive lineman Jordan Davis, Saban said he is one of the “most dominant players in college football. ... He’s really hard to block. He’s got great size. He’s very powerful, but he’s got very good short area quickness.” Saban said Davis is about as good of an interior player as he’s seen in a long time on any college football team.
-- Asked if there is anything to be carried over in terms of confidence after beating Georgia last year, Saban said what has happened in the past in games does not have an impact on what happens in the future. “You got to line up and play well in this game,” he said.
-- “Lot of adversity in and of itself in the game last night,” Saban said. “The players -- it wasn’t always pretty, we didn’t always execute perfectly -- but we were able to make the plays that we needed to make to get back in the game and eventually have success in overtime.” Saban did say “you’d like to be able to sustain with consistency so you don’t get in those situations.”
-- Asked about the key when down double digits, Saban said players need to have the “right mindset to keep playing.”
-- Asked about other teams recruiting this week, Saban said it goes “both ways” and the exposure of the game is significant even though they have to postpone relationships for a week. “I don’t know if that’s significant,” he said. “It probably depends on the player.”
-- Asked if other Georgia players than Jordan Davis stick out as a potential issue, Saban noted there are nine different players on their defense with at least two sacks. “This is not a one-man wrecking crew,” he said. “This is a really, really good group of players who play well together.”
-- Saban said starting cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis had a “little hip injury” and was not full speed, so “we’ll see how he responds this week and see if can be able to play in this game.” Armour-Davis did not start against Auburn; freshman Kool-Aid McKinstry replaced him.
-- Saban said Trey Sanders did a good job against Auburn, noting his running as well as his pass blocking and blitz pickup.
-- Saban said they did “much, much better” along the offensive line in the second half. “We made some improvement during the game, but it wasn’t very good in the first half.”
-- Asked about Georgia’s pass defense, Saban said they have good rushers up front and putting pressure on the quarterback. “They’ve been very effective with the way they’ve played pass defense all year long,” he said. “It’s going to be very challenging for us.” Saban said they play best with offensive balance which “wasn’t the case last night,” so it will be “important” for Alabama to create that.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
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