Kentucky came up short at Alabama last night but the Wildcats apparently won over Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.
Saban praised Kentucky after the game, saying they are much better than they get credit for.
“Kentucky has got a much better team than what everybody gives them credit for, especially in the last couple weeks, when they’ve sort of been trying to run the ball and do what they can do very well,” Stoops said. “Their defense has played a lot better, and I think that was certainly the case today. So you’ve got to give them a little bit of credit. You’ve got to give Mark (Stoops) a lot of credit for bringing his team back that way so that they’re playing hard and actually playing a lot better.”
Saban’s complete postgame thoughts:
Opening statement:
“I thought that we executed a little bit better in the second half. I thought we were a little bit sloppy in the first half. Our quarterback (Jalen Hurts) struggled a little bit, especially in the passing game. I thought we ran the ball effectively.
“Defensively, we played pretty well. We got some sacks and turnovers, and we scored on defense. All in all, I think that it’s a good win for us. I knew this would be a tough game, as I said to many people all week. Kentucky has got a much better team than what everybody gives them credit for, especially in the last couple weeks, when they’ve sort of been trying to run the ball and do what they can do very well. Their defense has played a lot better, and I think that was certainly the case today. So you’ve got to give them a little bit of credit. You’ve got to give Mark (Stoops) a lot of credit for bringing his team back that way so that they’re playing hard and actually playing a lot better.
“I was pleased with the way our guys came out in the second half and played. I challenged them a little bit at halftime. I didn’t think we imposed our will in the first half like we could’ve, or should’ve, or wanted to, however you want to say it. I thought we did a much better job in the second half. We left some points out there by not finishing some drives in the red area. There are lots of things that we can improve on and there are lots of things to correct. There are certainly a lot of lessons to be learned in this game. We’ll be anxious to make those improvements this week.”
On the forced fumble touchdown return:
“We wanted to attack the ball, especially on the quarterback. I thought he was a little loose with the ball. I thought the players did a good job of noticing that today, and that was certainly a big play in the game because we were struggling a little bit on offense. The score was 10-3 and they were hanging in the game, so that was a big momentum swing for us. That’s what we work on – trying to strip the ball out – every day in practice, and that will be something that we can show the other players. When you do it correctly you certainly have a chance to get the kind of consequences that you like and get the ball out.”
On Joshua Jacobs’ performance:
“Josh [Jacobs] is really playing well. He’s done a nice job for us. We have a lot of confidence in [Josh Jacobs] and we have a lot of confidence in Damien Harris, who has played extremely well for us all year long. He was coming off of a little bit of a high ankle sprain and wasn’t able to practice much this week. He was okay and cleared to play in the game, but we decided that we would just spot play him and use him in third down [situations]. That gave Josh [Jacobs] a little more of an opportunity and he took advantage of it and did a great job.”
