Nick Saban Shares Thoughts on Texas Ahead of First Road Game

Saban gave his take on Bijan Robinson and the Longhorns' offense.

During the SEC Coaches weekly teleconference with the media, Nick Saban opened the meeting by discussing the talent on the Texas Longhorns roster.

Saban, who was the coach the last time the Crimson Tide faced Texas for the BCS National Championship, spoke highly of one of the nation's top running backs in Bijan Robinson and quarterback Quinn Ewers.

"I think out players are focused on the challenge that they have," Saban said. "Playing a very good team in Texas. They had a great win the first week, they got 14 starters back. They got a good quarterback, a great running back, and a really good receiver. This'll be a real challenging game for us."

Last Saturday, the Longhorns defeated Louisiana-Monroe 52-10, with Ewers throwing for 225 yards and two touchdowns. In the running game, Robinson scored two total touchdowns: one off a screen pass for a 20-yard score, the other a 10-yard run with a few broken tackles.

"The first thing is they have great balance," Saban said about Texas' big play potential. "A lot of these big plays that they make come off of the run game with really good play action passes that are vertical, down-the-field type of pattern that are not always easy to cover. 

"The fact that they have great balance, you just can't play one-dimensional against them. You really gotta try to stop the run, then they take shots with some really good skill players and really good schemes."

The Crimson Tide take on the Longhorns this Saturday in Austin, Texas. Kickoff is at 11 a.m. CT.