Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke during the Alabama Football Coaches Association on Thursday. Included in the discussion was his team's loss to the Georgia Bulldogs in the National Championship game last month.
Saban and Alabama were dealing with a multitude of injuries in the game, and were without their top two receivers and a few key corners.
In short, Saban said it was lack of preparation by several of their backup players that contributed to the loss, even calling out three players in particular.
"We lost the National Championship game basically because we had three corners out, both starters and the best backup. So we’re playing with some guys that didn’t have a lot of experience. It eventually got us in the fourth quarter. We had the kind of team where we had a really good quarterback and we wanted to have skill guys that they couldn’t guard. So we had two who were really, really good--Metchie and Jamo. They both got hurt."
"Now, we were playing with guys that typically didn’t have to play at those positions. The lesson to be learned is there were three guys, and I’m not calling out any names, that basically didn’t do the things they needed to do throughout the season because they were frustrated with their circumstance…They’re frustrated with their circumstance because they’re not playing as much as they want to. They’re outcome oriented, they want to worry about how many balls they catch or how much playing time they get or whatever it is. So they don’t focus every day on being a complete player at their position, and they don’t work in practice and prepare for the games because they say to themselves, ‘Why should I do this? I’m not gonna play anyway.’"
"So, we had three guys, they all had a significant role in the National Championship game, and not one of them--not one--could take advantage of the opportunity that they had because they never ground through it. They never made themselves the best player they could be. When they got the opportunity, they couldn’t do it. That’s a lesson for everybody. What comes first: Playing time or making sure that you’re ready to play and create value for yourself when you get the opportunity?"