Jimbo Fisher and players met the media Monday in advance of this weekend's game against No. 1 Alabama at Kyle Field.
Coach Fisher's press conference along with select quotes are below.
Anxious to get back to work today after a couple days off for the players. I'm sure they were able to get good rest, get their bodies healed up, their minds healed up, get away for a day or two. We had a good week of practice last week. I thought fundamentally good practices on the days we were out there, got a lot done in my opinion. Some young guys got work in and the older guys worked on some technical things. And in all aspects of our game, all three phases, I thought we did a really good job. The kids practiced hard.
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Looking forward to getting back to game planning this week against a great opponent, of course Alabama. Outstanding football team in all three phases, they are number one for a reason. Defensively, their front has experience with (Terrell) Lewis and (Anfernee) Jennings up front and the guys in there. I mean, Raekwon (Davis) is a huge guy inside who's played a lot of football and the young freshman (DJ) Dale, those guys are big body guys, and (Justin Eboigbe) of course. (Christian) Harris, (Shane Lee) and all those guys at linebacker. Secondary is very experienced. Patrick (Surtain) is a really good corner. (Trevon Diggs) is a tremendous corner also. Very good. Played a lot of ball, makes plays all over the field. 15 will be a high drafted safety. (Jared Mayden), (Shyheim Carter), all those guys will play defensively. We know quarterback starts with Tua (Tagovailoa), just commanding things, making decisions, accurate with the ball. The receivers are dynamic, all those guys. Their tight ends are very athletic, they don't have three, they have four. Those receivers with Jalen (Waddle) in there, plus the return game and what they do in that regard. (Henry) Ruggs on the kickoff returns. And I mean, every time they touch it you gotta know. Their backs, they're all gonna play in the league, and they're very good up front. Special teams, (Jaylen) Waddle can run it out of there, Ruggs can run it out of there. You can cover extremely well. You gotta kick it where you're supposed to kick it, cover and be in the lanes and do the things you got to do and got to go play football. Their kickers, they do a good job there. They're supposed to get their kicker and punter back this week. They'll be ready to go. They're coached really well and they expect to win. And they know how to win. We've got our work cut out for us, but at the same time we've got to go out and execute, control what we can control, play like we can play to our capabilities. Should be a heck of a football game.
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A little more on Tua, how difficult is he to blitz and how good is he when you try to blitz because of the weapons he's got outside?
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That's a double-edged sword. He knows what he's doing and can see it, and they know what they're doing. And they're very dynamic in the man to man situation. So how you leverage him, how you coverage them in those respects, then you expose yourself. But at the same time, you have to run. You can't just be in the same thing all the time. You've got to challenge and mix it up and maybe you can bat some balls, get some balls, get great coverage and turn guys loose and get some hits on the quarterback. Because I don't care who you are, when you get hit, you get affected in everything you do. But he's as good as there is in college football, an outstanding player.
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How important is it to establish a running game? And is it possible to get creative in establishing a running game?
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You say establish a running game…you've got to have balance, but you've got to move the football. In establishing a running game, you may throw to run or you may run to throw, but you've got to have balance. You've got to be able to do both where they can't lay their ears back. But you've got to be able to move the football. Creativity in what you're trying to do, different blocking schemes or how you do it, would be good. We ran the ball last year, mainly last year we got it on quarterback runs. We actually didn't run it very well with the back. We had about 160-170 yards in the game rushing, but it had a lot to do with the quarterback. Had some scrambles, too, but we had some planned quarterback runs, and we always have those. But we have to establish the running back runs in different ways to move the football, no doubt.
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In kind of the same vein on the running game, how important can it be in keeping Tua and all those wide receivers on the sideline?
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It is. But here's the thing. You've got to create big plays. You've got to score points cause they're going to get points. I mean, they're going to get points. Their numbers of plays aren't up, their big plays are up, and you're gonna have to do that on defense. We've got to keep big plays down and when opportunities in which we can do that…Like last week, we move the ball extremely well offensively, but had a couple drives in which we screwed up. We've gotta do a good job defensively of not giving up plays and getting off the field, getting third down stops. We gotta do it on both ends. We've got to move the football. And we've got to get points on those drives, not just move the football, because their time of possession…Some of the best teams I was ever on…we have a great time of possession now, and we did last year, Sometimes when you're really talented your time of possession isn't very high because your big plays are so high and you don't need it. So it's a double-edged sword. But when you do keep it, you've got to score points. And that's what we were able to do at the end of last year so well and in some of the games we played earlier in the year.
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Have you been disappointed with the pass rush? And did you anticipate it to be more productive?
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Well, you've got to find ways to affect a quarterback, and we've got to get guys to get home and stay in lanes to get push and do that. I'm not disappointed, we're just not playing up to our capabilities in anything. I don't think you ever do right this time of year. You're hopefully getting better each and every day as you're coming through the season. But we've got to find ways to affect the quarterback and get more rush, there's no doubt.
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How important is it to limit kind of the self-inflicted wounds, especially turnovers? Going back to last year? You guys had two in the first half that really gave them a lead.
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They really did. They hit off of it, we missed a block on…I have no idea how we did it. And the other one, we just eased up on the route right for half an they were able to get a field goal. We had the route, and didn't realize we were throwing it, I believe, and eased up and their guy ran in front. But you can't have self-inflicted things is what we talk about. Negative plays, penalties, turnovers, those kind of things. You've got to find a way to create big plays. I mean, that's always on offense. If you can eliminate, always turnovers, but if you can eliminate negative plays and self-inflicted wounds on offense it gives you a much better chance to move the football. And I don't care how talented you are when you do those things to yourself, you can't. And, those are things all good teams have to learn not to do.
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Not to keep harping on the running game situation, but how do you see the offensive line coming together?
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There's cohesion, we've just got to do what we do better and we've got to run. Everybody says offensive line…understand something. There's tight ends involved, there's running backs involved. There's a lot of things involved in running, and even receivers, for people blocking secondary people. Because right now the way the game's played, your safeties are just basically linebackers. So it's a whole encompassing thing that we've got to create those angles, do a better job, and we've got to do a better job technically in how we're doing things. And missing runs. We've missed some runs because we've missed some cuts. We've got some young guys back there that haven't played a lot, and as their experience grows hopefully we'll get better in those situations.
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I don't know if rhythm is the right word but does the running game kind of have to get into a rhythm?
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Anything you do is a rhythm in sports. I talk about it all the time. That's the momentum we talk about. When you have momentum, you have rhythm, you're into things. Things are going well. Your things, they're going fast. You're seeing it. You're not thinking. You're reacting. You're making plays. And I think two things. How we stop the run and how we run the football, it's always going to be key. And the big plays in this game especially will be very critical in my opinion.
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The players said that the focus of the bye week was on the mental game. How important is (sports psychologist) Ryan Pittsinger to the organization? How involved is he in the day-to-day?
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He's involved with some of the guys. We have different guys who interact with him. We have other guys besides him. But Ryan is a big part of it. The mental and psychological disposition of things is critical, and I've always used sports psychologists, guys who deal with guys, how to think, how to process information, how to deal with pressures. That's a big part of today's world, the mental health issues. And not really just issues, but how to deal and comprehend and cope with things to put yourself in the right frame of mind to compete because of social media, and what people say, and how to simplify things. Because kids today are engulfed in so much more information than we ever were. That's why I try to stay away from all that stuff. You can't control what you can't control. We spend a lot of time with Ryan, but we also have other guys involved in that, and they all do a really good job. Ryan's really good.
Does Alabama's defense strike you as being more vulnerable, especially to the run, than previously?
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"I don't know what film they're watching. It looks pretty good to me. I mean, guys have got some yards late, but in the games, they've controlled the first parts of those games. When you're looking at numbers, look at when it's got, how it's got and why it's got and some of those things. They've been pretty good. I think South Carolina had a good day, got it going with some no-huddle things, but they went the other way. They didn't control the clock. They went up tempo and had some runs on them. Most of the other yards they've given up have been late in the game, so they're a typical Alabama team. They're big and physical up front. They have young linebackers, but they're athletic. In the secondary, they're very experienced."
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Nick Saban has had wholesale changes with his assistants over the past few years. I think there is only one person who is left. Can you look at the Alabama team and see any ways they are different?
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"Year one, national championship at Florida State, lost six assistants the year before. Won the national championship the next year. His system is his system, offensively and defensively. You coach your coaches on how you want them to be in your system, and he does that. New guys will bring new ideas, but you're going to keep the basis for what you do and how you do it."
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This is the first time in 10 years a team has faced the No. 1 team twice in the same season. How can you use that to your advantage?
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"I don't know about advantage, but you have an opportunity. You've been in that environment once, now you get to do it at home. Hopefully you'll learn from those situations and learn that those No. 1 teams are No. 1 for one reason. They play very well. At the end of the day, they play well, and that's what you have to do. We have to go and play well. You can't get caught up in what we're trying to do and the emotion in the game. You technically, physically and psychologically have to compete against the guy in front of you, win more plays than he wins and win more of the key plays in the game. Block out the clutter, eliminate everything else. It doesn't matter if they're No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 20 or No. 120. You still gotta go play the game, and you have to play it the same way as far as how you approach it. Hopefully we've learned that, and hopefully we'll just relax and play. Knowing your opponent is very talented and very good, but at the same time, you can't deal with that. You gotta play up to your capabilities."
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Were you pleased with how your guys performed and progressed through the bye week?
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"We went back to fall camp style practice. They competed very hard and technically got better with steps, alignments, assignments, hats. Where your eyes are on defense. First step and hat placement on defense and how you fit a run. We did a lot of drills that allowed them to go back to those fundamentals and not think about scheme. So they could just technically do things and make things a better habit then they even were before. I thought we did a good job of that."
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Your team has shown the ability to keep fighting, scratching and clawing, but how nice would it be to not be in a 14-point hole to start?
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"It would, and that's why we have to learn to start faster. In the Auburn game, they came down and scored right off the bat. We drove and missed a field goal, then came right back with a drive and we got down. You don't ever win games in the first five minutes, but you can put yourself behind the eight ball and make things very tough. You need to get out fast and start fast, which is something I thought we did at Arkansas. We got out, and then you have to sustain. Once you get it, you have to keep executing what you're doing, defensively the same way. It'd be great to get off to a great start, because this crowd and the people here are phenomenal to play in front of. It's a great atmosphere and a great environment, like I've said, it's as good as I've been a part of. The key to that is we need to play well, and that makes them even happier and louder."
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Any thoughts on Bobby Brown's recruitment, a head to head win over Alabama.
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"You're talking two to three hours instead of eight hours. You're talking about a scheme, I think location, I think the school itself in terms of what A&M has to offer in the big picture things. I think playing ball and building a championship program, being a part of building something instead of being part of something that's already there. There is something special about that and the challenge of being able to do that. Do you just want to be another one, or do you want to be the first? You have the capabilities to be a game changer. He liked A&M the whole time he had been in recruiting. He's definitely a momma's boy. He loves his momma, and I think those are all factors at play. He saw the future here in what we're trying to build and what we're trying to do. Keeping these guys in the state of Texas and making them realize that they don't have to leave here to get what they want."
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How neat is it to have a mom that is so involved?
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"She's wonderful, very supportive but very tough. It's tough love. When she has to, she gets on him and pushes him and challenges him, because she was an athlete herself, a great athlete. I think it's great. For him to be able to stay here local and get the whole A&M experience from the education to the Aggie Ring, the program we're building. In his four years here, he's going to have some success and be a part of laying a foundation down for going forward."
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In terms of Kyle Field, some have said it's lost its intimidation. Do you think in some ways that it's too nice of a setting?
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"I don't know who would say that or why they said that. I think this is one of the great places to play in college football. The games I've been here, it's been tremendous. I think it's as good as anywhere, the atmosphere and electricity. The fans are awesome. They're into it as much as any place I've ever been, and I don't mean that as disrespect to other places I've been. I just think it's a phenomenal place, people who love their atmosphere and environment. It's our job to make things uncomfortable, too. It's part of the players and coaches' jobs to keep playing well, and I know this. The LSU game, Clemson, Kentucky was phenomenal. I don't know any games that weren't. We're in the founding stages of building this program, and we have to do it. We have to put the foundation down to do it the right way and lay the future for this thing. I'm disappointed we haven't had some of the results we wanted already, but I think the foundation of what we're doing is right on track. These are lessons sometimes you gotta learn. Hopefully we can get through these, learn em and play well, and take advantage of these opportunities."
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How pleased are you with your cornerback growth and development, especially as they enter this great challenge with the Alabama receivers?
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"They're going to have their hands full. I think they're looking forward to the challenge. Those guys have done a really nice job with their length and size, learning how to use their bodies to not just be athletes but to be football players. That's a misconception. He's big. He can run. He's athletic. That doesn't mean he plays football. Football is a learned behavior, how to play the game. The mental part, the psychological part, the competitive part and the technical part. That's the thing. The technical parts of football, how you cover, your angles and things you do. Those guys have done a really nice job of taking coaching and looking at film, getting better and have been very competitive with each other."
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Coach Fisher's press conference along with select quotes are below.
Anxious to get back to work today after a couple days off for the players. I'm sure they were able to get good rest, get their bodies healed up, their minds healed up, get away for a day or two. We had a good week of practice last week. I thought fundamentally good practices on the days we were out there, got a lot done in my opinion. Some young guys got work in and the older guys worked on some technical things. And in all aspects of our game, all three phases, I thought we did a really good job. The kids practiced hard.
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Looking forward to getting back to game planning this week against a great opponent, of course Alabama. Outstanding football team in all three phases, they are number one for a reason. Defensively, their front has experience with (Terrell) Lewis and (Anfernee) Jennings up front and the guys in there. I mean, Raekwon (Davis) is a huge guy inside who's played a lot of football and the young freshman (DJ) Dale, those guys are big body guys, and (Justin Eboigbe) of course. (Christian) Harris, (Shane Lee) and all those guys at linebacker. Secondary is very experienced. Patrick (Surtain) is a really good corner. (Trevon Diggs) is a tremendous corner also. Very good. Played a lot of ball, makes plays all over the field. 15 will be a high drafted safety. (Jared Mayden), (Shyheim Carter), all those guys will play defensively. We know quarterback starts with Tua (Tagovailoa), just commanding things, making decisions, accurate with the ball. The receivers are dynamic, all those guys. Their tight ends are very athletic, they don't have three, they have four. Those receivers with Jalen (Waddle) in there, plus the return game and what they do in that regard. (Henry) Ruggs on the kickoff returns. And I mean, every time they touch it you gotta know. Their backs, they're all gonna play in the league, and they're very good up front. Special teams, (Jaylen) Waddle can run it out of there, Ruggs can run it out of there. You can cover extremely well. You gotta kick it where you're supposed to kick it, cover and be in the lanes and do the things you got to do and got to go play football. Their kickers, they do a good job there. They're supposed to get their kicker and punter back this week. They'll be ready to go. They're coached really well and they expect to win. And they know how to win. We've got our work cut out for us, but at the same time we've got to go out and execute, control what we can control, play like we can play to our capabilities. Should be a heck of a football game.
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A little more on Tua, how difficult is he to blitz and how good is he when you try to blitz because of the weapons he's got outside?
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That's a double-edged sword. He knows what he's doing and can see it, and they know what they're doing. And they're very dynamic in the man to man situation. So how you leverage him, how you coverage them in those respects, then you expose yourself. But at the same time, you have to run. You can't just be in the same thing all the time. You've got to challenge and mix it up and maybe you can bat some balls, get some balls, get great coverage and turn guys loose and get some hits on the quarterback. Because I don't care who you are, when you get hit, you get affected in everything you do. But he's as good as there is in college football, an outstanding player.
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How important is it to establish a running game? And is it possible to get creative in establishing a running game?
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You say establish a running game…you've got to have balance, but you've got to move the football. In establishing a running game, you may throw to run or you may run to throw, but you've got to have balance. You've got to be able to do both where they can't lay their ears back. But you've got to be able to move the football. Creativity in what you're trying to do, different blocking schemes or how you do it, would be good. We ran the ball last year, mainly last year we got it on quarterback runs. We actually didn't run it very well with the back. We had about 160-170 yards in the game rushing, but it had a lot to do with the quarterback. Had some scrambles, too, but we had some planned quarterback runs, and we always have those. But we have to establish the running back runs in different ways to move the football, no doubt.
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In kind of the same vein on the running game, how important can it be in keeping Tua and all those wide receivers on the sideline?
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It is. But here's the thing. You've got to create big plays. You've got to score points cause they're going to get points. I mean, they're going to get points. Their numbers of plays aren't up, their big plays are up, and you're gonna have to do that on defense. We've got to keep big plays down and when opportunities in which we can do that…Like last week, we move the ball extremely well offensively, but had a couple drives in which we screwed up. We've gotta do a good job defensively of not giving up plays and getting off the field, getting third down stops. We gotta do it on both ends. We've got to move the football. And we've got to get points on those drives, not just move the football, because their time of possession…Some of the best teams I was ever on…we have a great time of possession now, and we did last year, Sometimes when you're really talented your time of possession isn't very high because your big plays are so high and you don't need it. So it's a double-edged sword. But when you do keep it, you've got to score points. And that's what we were able to do at the end of last year so well and in some of the games we played earlier in the year.
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Have you been disappointed with the pass rush? And did you anticipate it to be more productive?
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Well, you've got to find ways to affect a quarterback, and we've got to get guys to get home and stay in lanes to get push and do that. I'm not disappointed, we're just not playing up to our capabilities in anything. I don't think you ever do right this time of year. You're hopefully getting better each and every day as you're coming through the season. But we've got to find ways to affect the quarterback and get more rush, there's no doubt.
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How important is it to limit kind of the self-inflicted wounds, especially turnovers? Going back to last year? You guys had two in the first half that really gave them a lead.
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They really did. They hit off of it, we missed a block on…I have no idea how we did it. And the other one, we just eased up on the route right for half an they were able to get a field goal. We had the route, and didn't realize we were throwing it, I believe, and eased up and their guy ran in front. But you can't have self-inflicted things is what we talk about. Negative plays, penalties, turnovers, those kind of things. You've got to find a way to create big plays. I mean, that's always on offense. If you can eliminate, always turnovers, but if you can eliminate negative plays and self-inflicted wounds on offense it gives you a much better chance to move the football. And I don't care how talented you are when you do those things to yourself, you can't. And, those are things all good teams have to learn not to do.
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Not to keep harping on the running game situation, but how do you see the offensive line coming together?
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There's cohesion, we've just got to do what we do better and we've got to run. Everybody says offensive line…understand something. There's tight ends involved, there's running backs involved. There's a lot of things involved in running, and even receivers, for people blocking secondary people. Because right now the way the game's played, your safeties are just basically linebackers. So it's a whole encompassing thing that we've got to create those angles, do a better job, and we've got to do a better job technically in how we're doing things. And missing runs. We've missed some runs because we've missed some cuts. We've got some young guys back there that haven't played a lot, and as their experience grows hopefully we'll get better in those situations.
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I don't know if rhythm is the right word but does the running game kind of have to get into a rhythm?
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Anything you do is a rhythm in sports. I talk about it all the time. That's the momentum we talk about. When you have momentum, you have rhythm, you're into things. Things are going well. Your things, they're going fast. You're seeing it. You're not thinking. You're reacting. You're making plays. And I think two things. How we stop the run and how we run the football, it's always going to be key. And the big plays in this game especially will be very critical in my opinion.
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The players said that the focus of the bye week was on the mental game. How important is (sports psychologist) Ryan Pittsinger to the organization? How involved is he in the day-to-day?
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He's involved with some of the guys. We have different guys who interact with him. We have other guys besides him. But Ryan is a big part of it. The mental and psychological disposition of things is critical, and I've always used sports psychologists, guys who deal with guys, how to think, how to process information, how to deal with pressures. That's a big part of today's world, the mental health issues. And not really just issues, but how to deal and comprehend and cope with things to put yourself in the right frame of mind to compete because of social media, and what people say, and how to simplify things. Because kids today are engulfed in so much more information than we ever were. That's why I try to stay away from all that stuff. You can't control what you can't control. We spend a lot of time with Ryan, but we also have other guys involved in that, and they all do a really good job. Ryan's really good.
Does Alabama's defense strike you as being more vulnerable, especially to the run, than previously?
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"I don't know what film they're watching. It looks pretty good to me. I mean, guys have got some yards late, but in the games, they've controlled the first parts of those games. When you're looking at numbers, look at when it's got, how it's got and why it's got and some of those things. They've been pretty good. I think South Carolina had a good day, got it going with some no-huddle things, but they went the other way. They didn't control the clock. They went up tempo and had some runs on them. Most of the other yards they've given up have been late in the game, so they're a typical Alabama team. They're big and physical up front. They have young linebackers, but they're athletic. In the secondary, they're very experienced."
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Nick Saban has had wholesale changes with his assistants over the past few years. I think there is only one person who is left. Can you look at the Alabama team and see any ways they are different?
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"Year one, national championship at Florida State, lost six assistants the year before. Won the national championship the next year. His system is his system, offensively and defensively. You coach your coaches on how you want them to be in your system, and he does that. New guys will bring new ideas, but you're going to keep the basis for what you do and how you do it."
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This is the first time in 10 years a team has faced the No. 1 team twice in the same season. How can you use that to your advantage?
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"I don't know about advantage, but you have an opportunity. You've been in that environment once, now you get to do it at home. Hopefully you'll learn from those situations and learn that those No. 1 teams are No. 1 for one reason. They play very well. At the end of the day, they play well, and that's what you have to do. We have to go and play well. You can't get caught up in what we're trying to do and the emotion in the game. You technically, physically and psychologically have to compete against the guy in front of you, win more plays than he wins and win more of the key plays in the game. Block out the clutter, eliminate everything else. It doesn't matter if they're No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 20 or No. 120. You still gotta go play the game, and you have to play it the same way as far as how you approach it. Hopefully we've learned that, and hopefully we'll just relax and play. Knowing your opponent is very talented and very good, but at the same time, you can't deal with that. You gotta play up to your capabilities."
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Were you pleased with how your guys performed and progressed through the bye week?
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"We went back to fall camp style practice. They competed very hard and technically got better with steps, alignments, assignments, hats. Where your eyes are on defense. First step and hat placement on defense and how you fit a run. We did a lot of drills that allowed them to go back to those fundamentals and not think about scheme. So they could just technically do things and make things a better habit then they even were before. I thought we did a good job of that."
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Your team has shown the ability to keep fighting, scratching and clawing, but how nice would it be to not be in a 14-point hole to start?
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"It would, and that's why we have to learn to start faster. In the Auburn game, they came down and scored right off the bat. We drove and missed a field goal, then came right back with a drive and we got down. You don't ever win games in the first five minutes, but you can put yourself behind the eight ball and make things very tough. You need to get out fast and start fast, which is something I thought we did at Arkansas. We got out, and then you have to sustain. Once you get it, you have to keep executing what you're doing, defensively the same way. It'd be great to get off to a great start, because this crowd and the people here are phenomenal to play in front of. It's a great atmosphere and a great environment, like I've said, it's as good as I've been a part of. The key to that is we need to play well, and that makes them even happier and louder."
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Any thoughts on Bobby Brown's recruitment, a head to head win over Alabama.
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"You're talking two to three hours instead of eight hours. You're talking about a scheme, I think location, I think the school itself in terms of what A&M has to offer in the big picture things. I think playing ball and building a championship program, being a part of building something instead of being part of something that's already there. There is something special about that and the challenge of being able to do that. Do you just want to be another one, or do you want to be the first? You have the capabilities to be a game changer. He liked A&M the whole time he had been in recruiting. He's definitely a momma's boy. He loves his momma, and I think those are all factors at play. He saw the future here in what we're trying to build and what we're trying to do. Keeping these guys in the state of Texas and making them realize that they don't have to leave here to get what they want."
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How neat is it to have a mom that is so involved?
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"She's wonderful, very supportive but very tough. It's tough love. When she has to, she gets on him and pushes him and challenges him, because she was an athlete herself, a great athlete. I think it's great. For him to be able to stay here local and get the whole A&M experience from the education to the Aggie Ring, the program we're building. In his four years here, he's going to have some success and be a part of laying a foundation down for going forward."
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In terms of Kyle Field, some have said it's lost its intimidation. Do you think in some ways that it's too nice of a setting?
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"I don't know who would say that or why they said that. I think this is one of the great places to play in college football. The games I've been here, it's been tremendous. I think it's as good as anywhere, the atmosphere and electricity. The fans are awesome. They're into it as much as any place I've ever been, and I don't mean that as disrespect to other places I've been. I just think it's a phenomenal place, people who love their atmosphere and environment. It's our job to make things uncomfortable, too. It's part of the players and coaches' jobs to keep playing well, and I know this. The LSU game, Clemson, Kentucky was phenomenal. I don't know any games that weren't. We're in the founding stages of building this program, and we have to do it. We have to put the foundation down to do it the right way and lay the future for this thing. I'm disappointed we haven't had some of the results we wanted already, but I think the foundation of what we're doing is right on track. These are lessons sometimes you gotta learn. Hopefully we can get through these, learn em and play well, and take advantage of these opportunities."
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How pleased are you with your cornerback growth and development, especially as they enter this great challenge with the Alabama receivers?
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"They're going to have their hands full. I think they're looking forward to the challenge. Those guys have done a really nice job with their length and size, learning how to use their bodies to not just be athletes but to be football players. That's a misconception. He's big. He can run. He's athletic. That doesn't mean he plays football. Football is a learned behavior, how to play the game. The mental part, the psychological part, the competitive part and the technical part. That's the thing. The technical parts of football, how you cover, your angles and things you do. Those guys have done a really nice job of taking coaching and looking at film, getting better and have been very competitive with each other."
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