Junior safety Eric Reid on the Alabama offense: “You gotta try to force a mistake, and if you can get (A.J. McCarron) to make a mistake, you’ve got to capitalize. If you get a turnover, you have to score points because you’re not going to beat them if you force them to turn the ball over and don’t come up with anything.”
Reid on the Alabama passing attack: “Their timing is always there. When the receivers break, the ball is in their hands. Their play calling is great too. We’ve just got to control the things we can control, knowing our plays, executing our plays, and we’ll be okay.”
Reid on the BCS National Championship Game as a motivator: “It definitely was in the summer because it was fresh on our minds. As the season has gone on, we’ve tried to forget it, but it’s still in the back of your mind. It’ll always be there for the rest of our lives, so it would be foolish to say we’ve forgotten about it. We’ve got to move on.”
Junior quarterback Zach Mettenberger on watching the BCSNCG film: “I watched it after the game, and I watched it again last week. The thing about that game is we just didn’t execute very well. There are a lot of guys who played in that game that really want to redeem themselves. Hopefully we can go out there and do that.”
Mettenberger on the passing game separating the two teams: “Not making mistakes is going to be huge. When you watch them, they capitalize on all the mistakes teams that other teams make. That’s something that myself and guys who touch the ball, we can’t turn it over. Hopefully the coaches will be confident in my week’s worth of practice this week and be able to call those shots when they present themselves, and hopefully we can hit them this week.”
Senior offensive tackle Josh Dworaczyk on home field advantage: “I certainly like Death Valley and the way that it is. Especially when you look at the South Carolina game, the crowd became a part of that game, and it almost felt like the stadium was just sitting on top of those guys. You want to have that atmosphere, but you look at last year when we went to Tuscaloosa. In this game, both teams do a good job of preparing for crowd noise. But hopefully, the crowd shows up and they’re as loud as they’ve ever been.”
Dworaczyk on being a home underdog: “I’m not even paying attention to that. It doesn’t surprise me at all. They’re the No. 1 team for a reason. The way they’ve been playing this season and what they’ve been able to accomplish. They started off the season fast and have been rolling ever since. For me to be picked second in the contest, it doesn’t faze me at all.”
On whether or not Josh Williford should return to the lineup: “Having Williford back will definatly be a huge asset for our offensive line. We still are depleted. We need as many guys as we can get. I think there is a question mark there with what the coaching staff would do. For me, I feel like the way that Trai (Turner) has been playing deserves a chance to continue to play. With Williford and all the things that he’s done and just being such a big guy, in a game like this you get a guy in there that can move guys around…it’s definatly something for the coaches to look at. It’s going to come down to the way things go through practice.”
Junior defensive end Barkevious Mingo on being an underdog: “Nobody in this building thinks of this team as an underdog. We just know if we play the way we’re capable of playing that we can compete with anyone in the country. That’s this team’s mindset.”
Sophomore wide recevier Jarvis Landry on the Alabama defense: “They basically do a little bit of everything. They blitz a lot, load the box. Basically that’s what they’re gonna do. We just have to execute.”
Junior running back Michael Ford on the game: “They took something from us a long time ago in the National Championship. That’s our fire. This is that golden ticket to go out there and play Alabama. It’s the biggest game of the year.”
Sophomore defensive tackle Anthony Johnson on the Alabama offensive line: “This year they’re a lot better. They have a great leader in Barrett Jones who moved inside to the center position. He’s a smart guy. He puts them in position to do everything they do. The two tackles are two of the best in the country. I played with Cyrus Kouandjio in the (Under Armour) All-American Game in high school. He’s a great athlete. I think (D.J.) Fluker is as good as they come in the run game.”
