With Alabama on a bye week, Nick Saban may have been in a chatty mood, and he made sure to point out what has gone right and what has gone wrong, from an offensive perspective, and defended the hiring of offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Lane Kiffin.

Nick Saban Tuesday Press Conference

The Crimson Tide have put up at least 538 yards in all four games this season. They did it once a year ago. Amari Cooper already has 43 catches and leads the nation with 655 yards.

A reporter asked Saban if Kiffin was given the freedom to open things up more, and Saban responded with a three-minute answer saying it’s the way it has always been. Here’s his full answer.

“I’ve been begging the offensive coordinators around here to open it up ever since I’ve been here,” Saban said. “Jimbo Fisher was the best offensive coordinator I ever had that did what I wanted to do, and everybody wants to run the ball. Now, we always had a very good team to run the ball, and we had a very good defense, and it was really smart to play the way we played. Now, we have more skill players that are good perimeter players, and I think we are doing what we need to do on offense to take advantage of that. Lane does a really, really good job of taking advantage of what players can do.

“I think that has benefitted us so far this season, but there are a lot of things we need to do better on offense. The offensive line needs to play better with more consistency. We need to be a better inside running team. You can’t have seven administrative penalties. You know what an administrative penalty is? False start, wrong formation, can’t it started right, bad cadence, all that stuff. We will. The players have to do a better job of communicating and doing that. We have made a lot of explosive plays. We haven’t always been as consistent as we need to be, and that’s what we really want to focus on doing.

“My philosophy hasn’t changed at all. I’ve always asked for this. Why don’t we throw the ball on this look, instead of running this play where we can’t block everybody, which is what we do now? It’s a pro philosophy, and Lane’s got experience as a pro coach. That’s his background, that’s what he does, and he does a really good job. I think he utilizes the players really well and presents problems for the defense by formation and adjustment. It’s worked out well.

“Hopefully, we’ll continue to improve. But, in my opinion, we have not arrived as an offense. He would be the first to tell you that, and I will tell you that, too. A lot of things that we did in the last game will get you beat. You turn the ball over four times and have nine penalties on offense, you’re not going to win many games. Now, we won that game, but they didn’t generate any points on their own, only off of turnovers, and we made a lot of explosive plays, and we controlled the ball, especially in the second half. There are a lot of things we need to do better.”

The reporter followed up by asking about contrasting personalities and how the chemistry between Saban and Kiffin has gotten better. Again, Saban didn’t appreciate the question and the assumptions involved, and here is his full response.

“It’s never been bad,” Saban said. “Who ever said it was bad? Why does it need to get better? I thought something had to be bad before you needed to get better. Has it gotten better? That assumes it was bad, it was worse at one time. We’re in love, we’re out of love, we fell back in love. I don’t get it. … We communicate well together. He’s very respectful, in terms of presenting the information I need. When I make suggestions, he always respects them. We communicate well during the game.

Photo Credit: USA Today Sports Images

“It’s always been good, is the way I would put it. If I did what you all thought when I hired the guy, he wouldn’t even be here. Maybe that was the assumption, because nobody thought it was a good hire, that all of a sudden, it’s something bad. I thought it was a good hire. Nobody else did. I got beat up like a drum over doing it, and now, all of a sudden, it’s great. You guys don’t have any consequences for what you say or do. Our stuff ends up on the field on Saturday, and if it ain’t done right, there’s consequences in front of a whole bunch of people. What was the rating on the last game? Like 5.1? And the hundred (thousand) in the stadium. It’s a different kind of scorecard than you all have to live with.”

Watch Saban's responses beginning at the 8:20 mark in the video at the top.