After an impressive first-half showing, Alabama’s success offensively quickly evaporated for the remaining two-quarters of its 24-21 win over Arkansas.
Mental breakdowns in the passing and blocking game allowed the Razorbacks to get back into the game which led to the Crimson Tide’s defense having to make a late game stop against KJ Jefferson and company.
On Monday, head coach Nick Saban detailed what he saw on film from the game and what Alabama needs to do to improve as Tennessee comes to town this weekend.
“After watching the Arkansas game, I think we did a lot of really good things in the game,” Saban said. I think it was also clearly apparent that when we had mental intensity, good mental energy, good focus, we actually executed pretty well. And there were times in the game, especially in the second half, where we sort of lost our mental edge, our intensity. It affected our focus, and we didn’t play as well and actually let the other team get back into the game.
“I think the lesson to be learned in all that is you’ve got to maintain intensity for 60 minutes in the game, regardless of the score. I mean, there’s games out there every week where people have leads and lose their focus and the outcome is not what you would want it to be.”
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