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VRBO CITRUS BOWL: ALABAMA VS MICHIGAN

December 8, 2019

Nick Saban

Orlando, Florida

MATT REPCHAK: Good afternoon, coach. Thank you for joining us.

We'll start with an opening statement from coach.

NICK SABAN: Well, certainly a privilege and an honor for our team to be in the Citrus Bowl, playing a great team like the University of Michigan with great tradition, great coach in Jim Harbaugh. This is a challenge we certainly look forward to.

Our team has been a little disappointed in the way we finished the season, so this is an opportunity for us to sort of show who we are, try to get back to playing to the 'Bama standard.

MATT REPCHAK: We'll open it up for questions for Coach Saban.

Q. What does a game like this mean for your program and your returning athletes?
NICK SABAN: Well, I think this is an opportunity for us to sort of try to reestablish the standard that we want to play to. I think when you play against a great opponent, that certainly enhances that opportunity.

I think it's an opportunity for a lot of players on our team to have time to practice and prepare for the future. That's certainly what we're focused on right now, is the future.

This is an outstanding opportunity for them.

Q. This isn't the first time you've not been in the Playoff obviously in the last five years. Do you have any indication or will you address your team in any way about guys who may be looking at their draft future and are undecided about participating?
NICK SABAN: Well, I'm sure guys are going to make individual decisions based on their circumstance, their situation. What we want to focus on is the guys who want to look to the future, look to trying to improve themselves as players, improve our team, getting back to the standard that we want to play to.

This has been something that has been a bit of an issue in the past with other programs and other teams. We haven't experienced it for a while. But we'll see what happens with this group.

Q. Do you have any early feel at this point for whether you guys are going to have anybody sit out? Have you started having those conversations with anybody yet?
NICK SABAN: I just answered that question.

We'll have those conversations, and we'll let you know if any of those decisions are imminent to the players that we have on our team.

Q. You mentioned a couple weeks ago that you were reevaluating your opinion on bowl games, the future of bowl games as it relates to the Playoff. Where do you stand as far as the importance of these games now in the Playoff era?
NICK SABAN: Well, this is a very important game to us because it's the next game that we play. It's a good opponent. It's a great bowl venue that we're excited to be a part of.

I just think some of the questions that I just got about players playing in the game, because they're not in the Playoffs, is probably what I was alluding to in terms of the players' view of how important it is to play in the Playoff and have an opportunity and look at this as an opportunity to enhance their future by playing really well and maybe improving their draft status.

That's what we'll emphasize to our older players on our team. They'll all have a choice to make. But when you have guys that don't play in bowl games, they do play in the Playoffs, that in itself tells you the view of the players in terms of how they look at the bowl game because we have made everything about the Playoffs in college football.

Q. For a program like Alabama that expects to play for a national championship every year, do the players that are going to be playing in this game come into a game like this with a chip on their shoulder, with a little extra fire in their belly?
NICK SABAN: I would hope that would be the case, with something to prove relative to the disappointments that we had in the season.

But I think we've played in seven championship games in the last 10 years. We won five and lost two. There is a high standard for the program. You're a little disappointed when you're not in that position. There's been a lot of players that worked hard to establish that tradition in this program.

But this group had a lot of adversity to overcome. This is obviously an opportunity to try to get things back on track with the players that we have that are excited about playing in the game. That's what we're going to focus on as coaches.

Q. You talk about the disappointment. What is the message to the players that will participate in this game, where you can get them up and motivated to play?
NICK SABAN: Well, I think we want to get back to playing to the standard. I think every player should be looking toward the future in terms of trying to get back to that standard and do the things to the level that we want to do them so that we have a chance to be successful in the future.

This bowl game that we have is the next game that we have. This is going to be the first opportunity we have to do that.

Q. Your relationship with Jim Harbaugh, how would you describe that?
NICK SABAN: I have a lot of respect for Jim. I think he's been a great coach, done a great job at Michigan. Did a great job every place he's been prior to that. We have a lot of respect for the University of Michigan, their program, their tradition, the job he's done as a coach.

I don't really know Jim Harbaugh all that well, but I do have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

Q. You were in a somewhat similar situation in 2010, the last time you were in the Citrus Bowl. Did you feel like that game against Michigan State sort of propelled the program to 2011 and 2012?
NICK SABAN: Well, I certainly think it was the first step in the right direction. I thought the players responded well to that season, which was a bit of a disappointment for us as well. I thought the players played well in that game. They prepared well for the game. Everybody played in the game.

I think it sort of set the table for what we were going to do the next season.

MATT REPCHAK: Coach Saban, we thank you for your time. We look forward to getting you down here to Orlando later this month.

NICK SABAN: Thank you all. Appreciate the opportunity.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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