Opening Statement

Well, obviously we’re very disappointed about the outcome of the game. I don’t think we played great in the first half, but I was really, really proud of the way our players played in the second half.

We just didn’t finish the last four minutes of the game like we would like to, and we’re all very disappointed, and the players are disappointed, as well.

But one thing that I told them in the locker room after the game, this is one of the most amazing seasons in Alabama football history in terms of where this team came from, what they were able to accomplish and what they were able to do, winning the SEC Championship, and really, really proud of this group.

I just wish that I could have done more as a coach to help them be successful and help them finish, and all we can do now is learn from the lessons that sometimes failings bring to us.

On why Michigan was able to get pressure in the first half

Well, not one particular thing. There was a couple times where we could have redirected the protection, which we kind of put on the O-line to a large degree, and we didn’t do it.

A couple times the shot clock was running down and we didn’t get a chance to do it, and a couple times we didn’t fan and miss-executed up front in terms of getting the right guys blocked when we were in the right protection.

It was a combination of several things. I thought we did a better job in the second half, but we didn’t give Jalen an opportunity to make some plays, nor our receivers to make some plays down the field, which was a big part of this game.

On the final play of the game

We called three plays. One they called time-out, one we called time-out, and the last one that didn’t work. The fact that it didn’t work made it a really bad call. You know what I mean?

But we called time-out because we had a bad look. We had a good look on the first one. They must have known it.

But Tommy just felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run, which was kind of our two-point play, one of our two-point plays for this game.

The ball was on the 3-yard line, which is just like a two-point play, but we didn’t get it blocked so it didn’t work. We didn’t execute it very well and it didn’t work.

They pressured and we thought they would pressure, but we thought we could gap them and block them and make it work, and it didn’t.

On special teams

I think special teams did a good job tonight. We did a good job of controlling field position. I think both specialists did a really, really good job. James did a great job of punting.

They had time to maybe go two-minute at the end of the game, and the fact that Christian bobbled the 2-yard line or 1-yard line or whatever was really, really good.

Will made some huge kicks, what, two around 50-yard field goals. They missed a field goal, which put us in great position to have a chance to be successful at the end of the game.

But us not finishing a couple drives, and if you really analyze the game, one of the biggest things is we didn’t play well enough on defense when we needed to, and the second thing is we had too many drive-stopping plays on offense. I mean, we shot ourselves in the foot. A sack is a drive-stopping play. Getting a penalty usually is a drive-stopping play.

Some of those things we self-inflicted. I told the players after the game, I told them before the game it’s going to be about what we do, and when you look back at it, it’s kind of about what we did and what we didn’t do.

Not taking anything away from Michigan. They played a great game. They’ve got a good team. They’re really well-coached and wish them the best of luck in the future, but we could have done things a little better, as well. That’s on me, on the coaches. It’s not anybody else.

Appreciate what the media has done all year long. It’s great you create a lot of interest in our sport. Thank you for that.

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