NICK SABAN: First of all, I’d like to thank the College
Football Playoff and all the people who have worked hard
to give our team, our players, as well as Ohio State’s
players, who had a great year, the opportunity to play in
the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
I know this has been a little bit of a trying year for a lot of
folks, but you all have done a great job to give the players
an opportunity to compete in a game like this, something
that will be a keepsake for them for the rest of their lives.
We’re excited about having the opportunity to play against
a great Ohio State team. These guys are really
well-coached. Ryan Day has done a great job there.
They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country in
terms of points allowed. Tough to run against, really
explosive on offense, really good skill players outside.
They do a great job of running the ball and control the line
of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
Very challenging game for us all the way around, but these
are the kind of games if you’re a competitor you really look
forward to playing in, and this is a great opportunity for our
players to compete against a great team.
Q. I know winning is always the objective, but is there
any more satisfaction or less satisfaction from winning
a defensive battle versus a shootout? Is one style of
play any more satisfying than the other?
NICK SABAN: I don’t think so. I think you have to do what
you have to do to execute, play well in the game, give
yourself an opportunity to win.
Every game can have an ebb and flow that may end up
being a little bit different, and you’ve just got to end up
playing the next play and hope that you can do the things
to finish the game so you give yourself an opportunity to be
successful and have a chance to win.
Q. Curious if you could expound more on your
thoughts on Ohio State’s defense, maybe especially
what you saw them do against Clemson in the Sugar
Bowl that impressed you.
NICK SABAN: Well, they were very impressive on the line
of scrimmage. Clemson had a tough time running the ball.
They’ve got a great back and a lot of quarterback runs that
they did a really great job against.
They were physical up front. They did a good job of
pressing the pocket. I think they played outstanding. Their
secondary played well enough, made the plays they
needed to make in the game.
They’ve got a lot of good athletes on defense. They’re
physical, they’re athletic, they can run, they play well
together. This is just a very talented group.
Q. Similar question, but on Ohio State’s offense, Trey
Sermon is a guy who’s emerged recently after
transferring from Oklahoma. What have you seen from
him, and how much do you look at the last two games
compared to the rest of his career?
NICK SABAN: Well, he’s playing outstanding football right
now. There’s no doubt about that. He had a fantastic
game against Clemson. I think they have two really good
running backs. Both are very capable.
Their offensive line does a really good job of blocking your
looks up front, getting a hat on a hat, and the runners are
very talented.
So the combination of the explosive ability that they have in
the passing game, the good receivers that they have
outside, the speed that they have, the way they can stretch
the field with the playmakers they have, quarterback that
can run or pass and can make all the throws, it’s just a
good all-around team and they have great balance, and I
think that’s what makes them very difficult to defend.
Q. You’ve been asked a lot about your receivers, and
Devonta is having an amazing year. Aside from just
your throwing the ball more, and teams in college
football are throwing the ball more, the emphasis on
that position seems to have grown in recent years.
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Why?
NICK SABAN: Well, you know, I think that any time guys
can — you have guys playing any skill position and they
have ability to make explosive plays, I think sort of the
advent of the spread offense, more spread formations,
four-open kind of formations spreads the field, which gives
players on the perimeter a much better chance to make
plays.
You have to tackle well in space. You’ve got to get these
guys on the ground, even if they catch short passes and
turn them into long runs.
And their ability to throw the ball down the field — and I
think the passing game in college football is probably what
has sort of evolved in a very positive way for most people.
RPOs probably contribute to that to some degree, but
really good play action passes that go along with the
running game that most teams have. Like Ohio State has
great play action pass game which they had a lot of
explosive plays on.
I think having those kind of skills guys that can score points
are something you certainly want to try and feature, and I
see more and more teams trying to do that.
Q. You’ve had such great success with juniors,
advising them whether to stay or go. I wonder what
that conversation was like with Najee, and obviously
it’s paid off this year with the kind of season he’s had.
NICK SABAN: Well, I think what we try to do is be realistic
with the players in terms of helping them make a good
business decision for them and their family. It’s ultimately
their decision, and I think that we try to make them aware
of how the money sort of goes down in the draft, and do
you have a chance to improve your value if you stay and
play college football.
There’s no developmental league in football. Different than
baseball, has minor leagues, hockey has a minor league,
NBA has a G-League or whatever it is. So the one place
that you can continue to develop and create value for
yourself is to stay in school.
If your draft grade is not what you think it could be, then
you have a chance to enhance your value, and when you
enhance your value and the guaranteed money that you
get, it also creates security for you and is really the best
way to help your family.
Q. Obviously your offense is elite, and I know your
defense has had a couple games when it gave up a lot
of points. How do you view the way your defense has
played, and as a defensive coach in an era of
exploding offenses, how do you kind of assess — how
does that make you assess or reassess how well a
defense is playing?
NICK SABAN: Well, I think that consistency in
performance is really, at the end of the day, what
determines how well you’re playing, and we have played
well in some games this year. Other games not as good
as we’d like. And as coaches we need to do a better job of
putting our players in a better position so they have a
chance to be successful.
We’ve played some — I think we’ve played four top 10
teams this year and some very explosive offensive teams
and been very challenged with four out of five new starters
in the secondary, and those guys have improved
dramatically, and I think we need to continue as a team on
defense to focus on things that we can improve on so that
we can play with a little more consistency game in and
game out.
Q. Is there anything about Steve Sarkisian that
separates him from other offensive coordinators that
you’ve had, and since you’ll be playing him in a couple
years at Texas, why can’t any of your former assistants
beat you in a game?
NICK SABAN: Well, I think that’s probably only a matter of
time. We’ve had a lot of great coaches here and they’ve
done a great job for us, and we’re always happy to see
them get opportunities. That’s what I think they work hard
for, whether you’re an assistant, whether you’re an
assistant to become a coordinator or a coordinator to
become a head coach.
Sark has done a marvelous job here. He’s very well
organized. He works very well with all the people in the
organization, players and coaches alike. He’s a good play
caller on game day. He does a really good job of preparing
the players game plan wise for each and every game, and
he’s just done a great job.
He’s been a real asset to our organization, and I think he’ll
be very successful as a head coach. And he’s taken over
a good program, so it’s going to be challenging for anybody
that plays them in the future, I think.
Q. I just want to ask you about the Heisman Trophy
ceremony tomorrow. You’ve obviously attended
several of these in person, but this one is virtual. What
are your plans to watch it, and how happy are you for
guys like Mac and Smitty to be named finalists?
NICK SABAN: Well, I’m really happy for all players that
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have a chance to be recognized. It’s always great, and you
always love it when your players get recognition. But
there’s a lot of players on our team that have done a great
job all year that are not going to receive recognition, and I
think that’s a lesson in life, because sometimes you do
great things in life and you don’t get recognized for it, but
you have to kind of satisfy yourself in knowing that you did
your best to be the best you could be.
I certainly feel like the guys that are up for awards and
have an opportunity hopefully to win some of these awards
have done just that, and hopefully they’ll get rewarded for
it. Internally we kind of keep our plans to ourselves in
terms of what we’re going to do, and I’m going to talk to the
players about it today.
Q. What did you guys learn from that 2018 title game
with the coaching distractions surrounding
departures, and how do you think that will help this
week with Steve Sarkisian?
NICK SABAN: Well, I think we’ve had several of these
situations where we’ve had guys playing in the National
Championship game and guys are getting head coaching
jobs someplace else. I think it’s up to each individual.
I went through it when I became the head coach at
Michigan State, and I was the defensive coordinator of the
Cleveland Browns with Bill Belichick and we had like five or
six games left to play in the season and had a chance to
get in the playoffs, which we did, and went two deep in the
playoffs, won the first game, lost the second.
But I think you just have to separate yourself and focus on
— look, if it wasn’t for the players, if it wasn’t for the players
at the Cleveland Browns being the best defense, I probably
would have never got the Michigan State job. So you kind
of owe it to the players to give your best, to do your best to
help them get prepared for the game so they can play well
in the game. That’s how I always felt. I think that’s how
Sark feels.
Most of the guys in the past have been able to do that and
been effective, and it’s not been a distraction for us. We’re
going to try to help manage it every way that we can so
that it’s not a distraction for us this year.
Q. I wanted to ask you about Ryan Day. How well do
you know him, and kind of what do you see in him as
an offensive play caller?
NICK SABAN: Well, I don’t know Ryan well. I’ve met him
before. I think he’s an outstanding coach. I think they do a
fantastic job with their team, the way their team competes,
the way their team plays, the discipline, the togetherness
that they have, the way they execute.
And offensively he does a good job of trying to manage
and control the tempo of the game on offense. And they
do a really good job of executing, which is all about
coaching your players to know what to do, how to do it, and
why it’s important to do it that way, and they do it extremely
well.
They present lots of problems with the system and the
scheme that they run, but they do a good job of executing
it, which is really probably the most important thing you like
to see as a coach. And Ryan has certainly done that there
at Ohio State, really with his entire team, but I know he’s
probably a little bit more involved with the offense, and they
do an outstanding job.
Q. I wanted to ask a little bit about one of the things
you mentioned earlier with kind of this passing
revolution that’s happened in college football, and it
seems like a lot of that began, at least for your
program, the last time you played Ohio State in the
championship game in 2014. I’m curious how much do
you think that game was maybe a watershed in how
Alabama approached offensive play calling and
structure, and also maybe as Alabama goes, so does
college football?
NICK SABAN: Well, that was a great game. I think the
score was like 42-35. They had a great team. We had a
very good team. As it turned out, they won pretty handily
in the National Championship game, which indicates what
a great team they had.
So I don’t know that any of our players on our team were
around back then, so I don’t know how that affects this
game. I think this game is all about how do you prepare for
this game, what do you do today and every day leading up
to this game to prepare yourself to play the best that you’re
going to play, assuming that the guy you’re going to play
against may be the best guy you’ve played against all year.
I think that’s got to be more the focus, and I don’t know that
the history of that game has a whole lot of impact on how
we think or what we do or how our players think in terms of
what they need to do.
Devonta Smith
Q. Will you talk about what it would mean to you and
your family for you to win the Heisman Trophy
tomorrow?
DEVONTA SMITH: Right now I’m not really worried about
the Heisman Trophy. I’m just trying to come in with the
team this weekend, just look forward to getting on to the
game plan for Ohio State.
Q. Do you look at yourself as sort of like representing
all receivers? In other words, receivers don’t usually
win this award; they often don’t even get to be a
finalist. Omari Cooper did but it’s not that often. Do
you take some pride representing yourself but also
receivers?
DEVONTA SMITH: I guess you could say that, just
showing that it really just — the person that goes out and
just puts in the work, they’re going to get the things that
they deserve. So if you work for things you’re going to get
the things that you deserve.
Q. Seems like you’re very familiar with playing in Hard
Rock Stadium. Could you explain, I guess, having
your last game here at the Orange Bowl and how you
plan on utilizing that to your advantage this week?
DEVONTA SMITH: It really don’t matter where we play at.
Just spot the ball; I’m ready.
Q. I’m curious just what you’ve seen from Ohio State’s
secondary, specifically Shaun Wade. He came back
this year to kind of prove himself, and I’m curious your
perspective on what he’s done and the match-up that
you guys will have with that secondary.
DEVONTA SMITH: I really haven’t watched film yet. I
haven’t got the chance to watch film yet. I’m going to kind
of dig into it today. Hopefully I’ll get into it today and I can
see some things that are interesting for us.
Q. I can’t help but want to ask really where you got
that team-before-me kind of mentality, because we
obviously hear it in these answers. So tell me a little
bit of your background and why the team mentality
kind of is engrained in you.
DEVONTA SMITH: Just because you’re not out there
playing by yourself. With team success comes individual
success. If the team is doing good, then everybody is
doing good, and that’s what it all comes down to.
Q. You’ve always been a big part of the offense going
back to your freshman year, but with Jaylen getting
hurt earlier this year, how did that change your role or
change your attitude in feeling like I have to be more of
a contributor to this offense or a leader in this
offense?
DEVONTA SMITH: Well, just me being the competitor I
am I wanted to just do whatever I can to help the team, and
that’s what it came down to. Just everybody on the offense
felt like they could do more to help the team, and that’s
what we’ve all been trying to do.
Q. You remember that 2018 team that was undefeated
to this point in the season and didn’t finish the way
you wanted in California. How is that a motivating
factor this week to keep this legacy of this team
undefeated as opposed to a team that came this close
and almost got there?
DEVONTA SMITH: The past is the past. Nothing we can
do about it now. We’re just focusing on this week and how
we can prepare for this game and just making sure that it
doesn’t happen again.
Q. I was hoping you could talk to me a little bit about
how the power of believing in yourself has shaped
your life, and also I wanted you to kind of clue me in to
when you got your last growth spurt. You went from
125 at some age when you were in high school — is
this right? I was reading back through some stories.
DEVONTA SMITH: I don’t remember, but it was probably
somewhere around that.
Q. How has the power of believing in yourself then
shaped your life?
DEVONTA SMITH: Just you’ve got to believe in the things
that you do. If you don’t believe in it, then why are you
doing it? You just can’t be out here doing something that
you don’t believe in. You put your mind to some things and
eventually it’s going to happen.
Q. How many people told you you couldn’t be a
football player?
DEVONTA SMITH: I heard it a lot, all my life.
Q. Coming into the College Football Playoff, Ohio
State had some disrespect to the program with people
saying they do not deserve to get in. Were you all
looking ahead to Clemson playing in the National
Championship, and was it a shock to you that Clemson
lost and you now have to face Ryan Day’s Ohio State?
DEVONTA SMITH: I mean, I’m not part of the committee,
so I have no say-so in who they put in and who they
wanted to put in. At the end of the day, we just show up
here, practice, and get ready for whoever the next
opponent is.
Q. Last year’s Citrus Bowl, how important do you
think that game was in terms of a launching-off point
for this 2020 team?
DEVONTA SMITH: I think it was very important, just to
give everyone something to think about, how like the
season went, and it wasn’t where we wanted to be, but just
to end everything on a good note to kind of be like, Okay,
we see what next year is going to look like and we know
what we have to do to get things right.
Q. How did Sark break the news that he was going to
Texas, and what was the reaction among players?
DEVONTA SMITH: We had a meeting. Coach Saban told
us about it. Everyone is happy for Coach Sark. That’s part
of the business. But he’s going to be here with us
throughout this last game, and we’re trying to finish things
the right way.
Q. The Nick Saban you see is not the Nick Saban we
see. If you had to describe him to somebody on the
outside, how would you do that?
DEVONTA SMITH: He’s very funny. May not seem like it
to y’all, but he has a sense of humor.
Q. Do you have any example of that, and how often do
you see it?
DEVONTA SMITH: Every day at practice. It’s always
every day at practice.
Patrick Surtain, II
Q. When you watched Ohio State’s offensive
performance on Friday, whether it was live or on video,
what were your impressions, and how much of a
challenge is that going to be for you guys?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: They were very dominant in the
passing game, in the run game, very balanced, ver
efficient. We know it’s going to be a challenge. We’re just
going to have to go in the film room and prepare like we
need to.
Q. I just wanted to ask you about Mac and Smitty.
How happy are you guys for them to be Heisman
finalists, and what’s it been like for you as a defensive
player to go up against those two this year?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: They’re probably not as excited as
we are, but as a team we’re very excited for them. They
deserve it. A very prestigious award. They worked hard
for it. We’re just excited for it tomorrow. Whoever wins it,
we’re going to be happy for him.
But just going against them guys every day, it makes me
better as a football player, but it also taught me going
against guys like that when you go on the field, it makes
you 100 times better on game day.
It was a great opportunity for me, and with that individual
success comes team success, as well. Without the team
we never would have known about those awards like that.
Q. How does it help you as a defensive player to play
for a team with an offense that can put up 50 or more
against anybody?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: It’s very helpful. I’d say our offense
helps us sometimes. You know, we just go in and prepare
like we need to, but knowing the type of offense we have,
we’re not anxious or very upright at all, knowing what they
can do and what they’re capable of.
Q. Patrick, where is this team at if Najee turns pro last
year instead of coming back?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: You know, when he came back we
were all very excited. He’s a very good player. But if he
wasn’t here we’d have had to look to the drawing board,
and I’m sure whoever steps in would do great, as well.
Q. I’m curious how much you’ve watched of Ohio
State’s receiving corps, specifically Chris Olave who
had the big game against Clemson and what you’ve
seen out of that group.
PATRICK SURTAIN II: They’re very finesse type of
receivers. They’ve got speed, vertical threats, but they
also run great routes. It’s going to be a challenge for us as
a secondary and as a unit, so we go and watch film on
them and prepare like we need to to focus on their
concepts and what they like to do.
Q. I was wondering as you watched Justin Fields, I
would think you watched a little bit of that game the
other night, maybe you didn’t, but he got hit in the
back, came back in that game, and threw for over 300
yards for those guys. What’s your impression of
Justin Fields both from what you’ve heard of him over
the years and then coming out of that game on Friday
night?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: He’s a high competitor. He leads
the team the right way. They go off of him, and for him to
come back in the game, like I said, that just shows what
type of competitor he is and what type of toughness he
has.
That team success builds around him. He’s a great player
all in all.
Q. Pre-injury, how did going against Jaylen Waddle
and Devonta Smith in practice every day, that
combination of a slot receiver and outside receiver,
prepare you for what you’re going to see against Ohio
State with Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: You know, going against those
guys every day in practice is like a game-day type of
situation. So every time I go against them I treat it like a
game situation, like I said.
It helps me prepare for the game because you’re going to
see talent like that in the game. But it just doesn’t get any
better than that, what you go against in practice, so it helps
me get better and see what I can improve on and stuff like
that.
Q. I know you probably are thinking about this, but
playing at home, how much does that mean to you,
and where does it fall in your mind? Does it stay in the
back of your mind, or where does that fall in
importance?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: It’s pretty exciting, you know, to
play back at home. But it doesn’t matter where we play at.
We’ve still got to play 60 minutes of the football game and
focus on what we need to do and control what we need to
control.
I’d say it’s another game, and just no matter the setting or
no matter where it’s at, we’ve still got to play.
Q. You guys have had a couple games against Ole
Miss and Florida where your defense gave up a lot of
points. What do you think went wrong for your
defense in those games, and does that concern you
going to play against an offense like Ohio State?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: Going into those games I felt like
we wasn’t as communicative as we needed to be, wasn’t
flying around. We gave up big plays due to like mental
errors and stuff like that, things that we can improve on in
the film room and in practice.
And, you know, we just focus on and control on what we
need to do to improve each week. Looking forward to this
game. Nothing has changed. We’ve just got to focus and
prepare the right way.
Q. What stands out to you the most about Justin
Fields?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: His arm. He’s got a tremendous
arm. He’s very accurate, as well. He can put the ball
wherever he needs to, and he’s very mobile in the pocket.
He’s a virtual threat. He can beat teams in multiple ways
with his arm and his legs, so he’s a good player.
Q. Talk about coming back home; what’s the feeling of
knowing that family and friends are going to be there
to watch you play at Hard Rock?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: It’s going to be a tremendous
feeling having them come and support me back at home.
It will be a great feeling. I’ve just got to show out and make
them happy, make them proud, you know.
Q. How does it feel to give any advice to anybody from
South Florida to be in the position that you are today?
PATRICK SURTAIN II: I’d just say work hard. South
Florida, there’s talent everywhere. Your name will get
called and you will be on a bright stage like this, so just
keep working and keep striving to perfection.
Q. A lot of questions about the secondary heading
into the season, and certainly you’ve elevated your
game, there’s no doubt about that. I’m curious to get
your thoughts on Brian Branch and really what you’ve
seen development-wise out of him.
PATRICK SURTAIN II: Brian, you know, he grew each
week and he’s gotten better. He’s more confident out
there. He’s not a freshman anymore. Like going into the
season like this, he’s a sophomore, a vet, and he’s playing
like it, too. The more and more you see each week of him
he gains more confidence, and you can see it in his play.
The sky’s the limit for him, and he’s a hard worker, so you
can’t take that away from him. So he’s going to keep on
striving for greatness, you know.
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