Everything Jimbo Fisher Said After Alabama Won at Texas A&M

Here's everything Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher said during his press conference following the Alabama Crimson Tide's 26-20 victory at Kyle Field on Saturday.

"I'm proud of our kids. They played their hearts out. Played physical. Heck of a football game. Lost to a good football team. Had opportunities in the game. We had momentum in the game, had control of the game at times. The back and forth, two good teams going at it, we were playing well.

First half, come out of there 17-10. It was very solid. Felt second half, calling what we did, what we had to get done. They came out and had a good drive. Got a decent kickoff and we had a good drive. Our defense made a really good play.

Had a nice pick. We get it back and then on second down, we were throwing it and they bring a blitz. Max [Johnson] throws to the right guy. He has got a hot route to the tight end. He's got to get it out in front of him just a little bit more. Guy came from behind and made a heck of a play. Got the turnover right back, and that was a big momentum swing in the game. We have got to help him a little better.

And then they get down and score. And unfortunately, the defense really made a nice stand and then they got a third and 14. They got a third and 14 on a third-down conversion.

Then we get it back and move it really well and miss a third and one and a half, third and two right there, and get a full yard. If it had been inside a yard, probably would have won about a yard so we could pin 'em back, get 'em, get our defense who had been playing well.

Unfortunately, they hit a double move and got a big play and got a third and nine and got a touchdown again.

And then we moved it again. We moved it up there again, kept moving the ball. We got stymied two or three times around the, I don't know, 45, 50, 40-yard line right there. We just didn't get across and get those points.

And they get a critical turn. Defense does a great job. Again, stripped the ball out. I think Bryce [Anderson] got the recovery. I'm not sure we got the recovery. Bryce got the recovery, and they stripped it out. And we get a two-yard gain, and we get a sack, we get a ten-yard game, we get a field goal and get it back 24-20, and they blocked it. They got penetration and that can never happen.

And they got a block, and then we held 'em. And got back down there and we had the ball on about their 10 or -- 15-yard line, and sack -- two sacks. They got beat on the pressure. And Max was getting hit, trying to get it out. We had a guy open. And they got a safety, and that was a big play in the game. Made it a two-score game. We punted to them, kicked it off. The defense did a good job stopping them then. And then we take it right down and score.

I thought -- Ainias [Smith], got the ball back to him and got some plays made and he made a great run. He got him out. And then we scored, and then they called a holding. I'm not sure who they called it on. We had a hold there. I'll go back and look and see what happened.

Then we got it back to the two on third down but elected to go for the field goal. We needed two scores. There wasn't no sense to lose it right there. If we didn't get, it would have been over with. So we tried to get it and kick it and get the onside kick. We didn't get it.

Unfortunately, we had it down. We thought we were going to get it with a minute to go if we could have stopped them on that third down. The guy flipped it up in the air, went on his knees and caught it, I guess. I guess if you touch it with your knees, and not control, it's not down. Then they got the first down. We got to find a way to help our guys.

Our guys played hard. The kids played hard. They played physical. It is a hurt locker room. They felt very good about how they were playing in the game.

And again, it's still a really good football team. We got to keep -- regroup. We got six games left. We have to go on the road and play six games. There's not a game out there we can't have success in, but it's also going to be a very tough schedule. We've got to line up and go play. It's only one loss in the league, and there's a lot of football left to see. Unfortunately, we got to find a way as coaches, and me as the head coach, to find a way to get one more play and put them in a better position. We will get better at it."

Q. I know you missed on the early fourth and 1. What went into the decision, the fourth and 1?

COACH FISHER: We was tied up. The score was 17-17. They just had momentum in the game. We missed a third and we had a third-and-2. We went to it fourth and 1. If it wasn't a full yard, inside a yard, it probably would have went. We didn't get it. I said, listen, we can pin 'em back. Our punter does a great job. Unfortunately, that's the one he kicked just a little bit long. They got it at the 20, but it was a tied game. I thought our defense played great the whole time. I thought we would get the ball back and play. And we got stopped earlier on two third and 1s.

Q. And y'all got to [Jalen] Milroe over the first couple of quarters, four or five sacks. What was the difference in the second half?

COACH FISHER: I think they did a good job of getting -- they got the ball out quicker. They changed the passing game. They started quick passing it, getting it out a lot quicker. He wasn't holding it. They were getting it downfield. They hadn't really thrown that kind of passing game and had done -- they did a better job at the intermediate passing game and getting the ball out quicker. They were taking shots and getting the ball downfield. We still got some pressure on him, but he was doing a good job of getting in a rhythm and he got it out a little bit quicker and they changed up what they were doing a little bit.

Q. Two questions. You talk a lot about sudden changes and the mentality after it. Is this a mentality of after a sudden change that goes positively? And how did you think your team responded to that quick double sudden change?

COACH FISHER: Well, I mean we had it back -- they had a third and 14. The sudden change after the turnover to turnover, offensively, obviously, we didn't get it done. We turned it back over. But then our defense did a really good job and had it third and 14 and they hit a play. Those other two plays, they come back out on the field. They didn't panic right then and got it back that way. And what happened? And, you know, we have got to do a better job. We have got to do a better job.

Q. I know early when they were targeting [Jermaine] Burton, [Josh] DeBerry was out there. You switched him out for . But DeBerry came back out. What was --

COACH FISHER: And also from the rest and you have got guys that play a lot of ball and they had some nicks and knacks and we were trying to rotate guys and keep them healthy and fresh in the game. And also, when we did, we got him more help, got him in zone coverage, got him help over the top and didn't leave him isolated as much.

Q. What went into the decision to call the time-out and then go for the field goal?

COACH FISHER: We had to. We were two scores down. If we don't score there, the game is over right there. You have to get -- I didn't want to waste the time.

Hopefully we were going to score. We would kick it, had three time-outs, could pin them back. But when you went there to rush the field-goal team on, I thought it was too much -- it would be too much time wasted because it was about 2:15, 2:20. So we would call them out and kick it, go for the onside kick. If we got a stop, we'd have a minute left.

Ideally, I wanted to score a touchdown. I thought we scored twice, Ainias [Smith] and then the other one. I was trying to save the three to kick it deep and pin 'em. We had played in the run really well and make them throw it in what we did.

I wanted to get it back to a one-score game. I didn't want to take a chance losing the game right there on fourth down.

Q. And then Jalen [Milroe] throws it out of bounds. It looked like there was maybe one second left.

COACH FISHER: Could have been. I thought so too. I thought there was one when the ball hits. That's a play everyone works on. You run down there and you do it. It takes seven or eight seconds. I thought there was one, but, I mean -- I can't see.

Q. Coach, could you elaborate on the -- after the field goal, I guess deciding to go for the onside rather than kick it deep. I know it can go both ways.

COACH FISHER: We had the two time-outs and they could run it down. If you had three, I would have kicked it down. If you get a stop, you can guarantee.

With two, it's hard right there. And they got the first down. They got it coming off. I wanted to take a chance in getting it back. I wanted one more opportunity to get it back.

We worked on them hard. That one didn't get the hop. We had been working on it and getting a lot of good ones in camp and practice. I wanted to give us a chance to get the ball.

Q. Coach, you came into this ball game running the ball pretty effectively. But today it looks like you only got 67 yards. Were you surprised by that?

COACH FISHER: No, I mean, I knew it was going to be hard running. They played the run very well. Their inside people play the run. They have always played the run well. Hopefully, we could have run it better. I wanted to run it better. You have always got to have balance, but it takes sacks out. In college ball, you take sacks and you put in your running yards. That's not really indicative of your run. It kind of should go in your passing yards. It does for us in stats.

We knew it was going to be a hard slant running the ball, but we wanted to keep running it to keep them honest and keep it balanced. And we had some good runs in there. We had some good runs at times, but we needed a couple more.

Q. Jimbo, what was Jermaine Burton doing to give you guys some problems?

COACH FISHER: He's just a good player. He can run. He was isolating, sometimes even one on one. He made -- a couple times we were there making the plays, he made one or two really nice contested catches on deep balls. The other one he had a double move. He's explosive. He got us on a double move, and I think he had a nice corner route right there.

And then he broke a tackle on a slant. I think 11 () was in there too. He will broke a tackle on a slant route that broke through there. He's a big, strong, good player, man. That boundary guy can get isolated sometimes, and that's what they did.

Q. The decision at the end of the first half to not take a time-out and kind of --

COACH FISHER: Well, we have only got two time-outs. We are on the 20-yard line. There's less than a minute. The odds of throwing the ball right there -- they had three time-outs left. You throw it and then they got to punt, got a check to block punt it. Your odds of going 80 yards right there don't do it. You are up 7. And if you throw a pick or a turnover right there before half, you are putting them right back in the game. You had control of the game and it was good.

If we had popped a first down -- we always have a rule. If we hit a first down, we try to get a stretch play and spread them out. If we hit the 30-yard line, we would have made the alert red. We would have hit a quick first down. We would have popped it and we didn't.

They weren't going to make us punt it and I said, Let's go into halftime 17-10.

Q. Three times inside the 10-yard line and you came away with six points.

COACH FISHER: That's correct. Three times or two times?

Q. I think it was three times. The one time with Ainias [Smith]. The first time you tried to throw it on fourth down, it was incomplete. And then the other time you kicked the field goal.

COACH FISHER: Nah, that was the 20. We were at the 20 on that.

Q. I had you first and goal at the six.

COACH FISHER: That was the second time. That's before we kicked the field goal. We threw a pass. There was two times inside the ten, wasn't it? Maybe it was three. The last two, yeah.

Q. So anyway --

COACH FISHER: We scored. We popped a score and we didn't get it. But you're right, we have got to score touchdowns in the red zone. You got to score touchdowns in the red zone.

First drive, we missed a third and 1, and fourth and 1 about the 20. And then we kick a field goal the second time. And then we thought Ainias [Smith] scored. Then we thought we scored and got the penalty. You have got to score touchdowns. You have got to score touchdowns. I agree with you 100%.

Q. Would you ever second-guess yourself for not kicking the first field goal just to get on the scoreboard?

COACH FISHER: The third fourth and 1? Inside a yard and we had momentum in the game, I thought it was the thing to do, we had things rolling and got it back. Hindsight is 50/50. But if you make it, you go in for a touchdown. You play aggressive to win.

Quotes courtesy Caption Pros