It was a tale of two halves in this year’s edition of the Third Saturday in October, as Alabama mounted a 13-point comeback win over Tennessee.
The Crimson Tide’s first two plays on offense to start the third quarter told the story of what was to come as a 29-yard Jase McClellan carry led to a 46-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Milroe to Isaiah Bond. The defensive success was also evident as Deontae Lawson and Jihaad Campbell helped the unit shut out Tennessee in the second half.
So what was the message at the break that ignited the comeback? Nick Saban shared what he said following the game.
“I walked in at halftime after they scored right before the half, I said, ‘Everybody here’s got a choice to make. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to do? Everybody’s got to choose what they want,'” Saban said. “And we went out and scored in two plays in the second half in the first drive on offense and changed the momentum of the game and played really well from that time on.”
This year’s Alabama team has been consistently inconsistent to begin games but despite some of the frustrations Saban is proud of the player’s competitive spirit.
“It’s great the way we played in the second half. But you can make an argument that we weren’t a finished product in the first half, really on either side of the ball,” Saban said. “But I do think that the resiliency that the players sort of show, their ability to overcome adversity, them scoring like right at the end of the half, us having an opportunity to score and turning it over and then they go down the field and they score right before the half.
“So it was a big swing from a momentum standpoint. So it takes a lot of resiliency, a lot of perseverance from those players to bounce back because it was a horrible way to end the first half, and they did a fantastic job and I can’t say enough about the competitive spirit that they have when they need to have it.”
*Get the BEST Alabama football insider information, message board access, and recruiting coverage today! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our subscriber only content!*
Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
