Everything Ryan Grubb Said After Alabama Football's Loss to Oklahoma

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama football offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb had a press conference on Monday morning, in which he recapped elements of the No. 4 Crimson Tide's 23-21 loss to No. 11 Oklahoma. Grubb also discussed Daniel Hill, the wide receivers and more. A full transcript is published below, along with press conference video.

On message to Ty Simpson about fumbles and how to avoid them moving forward:

"Yeah, same as normal. A couple of them came up there, obviously. You know, for Ty, taking care of the ball in the backend of the pocket [is] a two-handed monster. The message all week that Ty knows and is frustrated about is getting the ball out of his hand. And then understanding when your back gets chewed from protection, what's going on with the route concept and work with the ball. Ty knows that. He's beaten himself up more than anybody."

On coaching points to running backs in pass protection after the Oklahoma game:

"Yep, there were two reps there. Jam is normally a really dependable guy, and it doesn't come down to anything but balance and hand placement. And Jam just kind of got his weight out over his toes and leaned on one, and Daniel got his weight back inside, and the guy out-leveraged him too quickly. And normally those guys are pretty down solid in that. So what we told the guys was making sure that we're putting them in enough positions during the week. Are we getting enough one-on-one reps with your true one linebackers at pass rush? And if we're not doing enough of that for the guys, we've got to supplement it. Because when you look at something happening on film, and it's not what you know your guys are capable of, it's more about -- the message we try to give to our guys is like, what are we not giving you enough of in practice? Not get to the film and MF the guys for stuff they didn't do. So, we want to fix the problem. And I know our defense; they'll want to do more one-on-ones if that's what we want. So, we've got to do a better job with that, I think."

On his approach for the final drive against Oklahoma:

"Well, the plan was to score. Seven minutes, two timeouts, plenty of time. And even at the end of the game, I know there were maybe some people wondering about that, but there's still 1:30+ left. You know, we just ran out of downs. One timeout left and we really had to go 50-some yards or so somewhere there that we had to get down the field to score. And for us, we didn't feel like that was an issue at all. We do that all the time. So, you know, we're just trying to make sure we stay on the field. That was the biggest part. And you know, ultimately, that was the problem. We didn't convert. We ended up having a sack that put him way behind the sticks, which really made things complicated there at the end."

On Daniel Hill's recent performances:

"Yeah, he's growing. Everything you want for young players. All of the guys are competing for playing time. That's the most valuable thing to them is getting on the field to show that they can help the team. And for Daniel, he's certainly done that. He wasn't perfect, just like any player, he's working to try to get better at things. But, you know, I think he's shown the capability of being the guy who can get those tough yards."

On the biggest point of emphasis after watching Oklahoma film:

"I hate saying it or bringing it up, but it's turnovers. For us, the disappointing part was we always think we'd prep our guys for that, we always think that we practice that.  And to this point in the season, it has been certainly a strong point for us. We have had turnovers, but we've never had more than one in the game. And so, when you have critical turnovers and points that come off the turnovers, put your defense in tough positions like that, those are crushing blows and in a tight football game.  So certainly, that's a point of emphasis, decision making with the ball. How do we take care of it when it is in our hands? So that that's the whole thing. We felt like, you take care of the ball, you win the game. It's really that simple.  They beat us in two categories: points and turnovers. Those are always the most important. So our guys, they know that, they know the lesson that was learned there. We're certainly putting more emphasis moving forward in practice."

On recent performances from the wide receivers and route-running:

"I thought they did a good job. I thought there were some really good routes. I thought guys did a good job of crossing face on in-breakers and they got into open space in the middle field.  Unfortunately, a couple of those we weren't able to hook up on, but we're getting better all the time, honestly. I think that some of our guys, the challenges that we give them, they step up every week and want to get better at it. I thought we've gotten better against press coverage. We just got to continue to work those man mechanics."

On the offensive line:

"You know what?  I thought they played well, honestly, I thought the last two weeks, they've been building. It's been a little bit of a slow build. I thought Wilkin played outstanding. We challenged him.  Me personally, I put Wilkin on the spot playing right guard, that has not been something that he's done over his career, and he played really well. I thought, after you watched the film, the interior of the pocket was as good as I've seen all year. Like, countless times, you saw Ty climbing the pocket, able to rip ball over the middle, and I thought Wilk was a big part of that, So, the stability that they brought, and then really, the run game part. That was a really good run defense, and honestly, what we did up front, how we executed was as good as we've done.  I know it doesn't feel like that with the 80 yards, but the reality is we've been, for the last month or better, it's tough to say, but we've averaged, between seven and nine negative yards per game. And on Saturday night we had two, and they were gains of zero, so technically they weren't negative. Both of those runs, I'll just say, we just missed them. We had big holes that we just didn't friggin hit, and it sucks, because the o-line worked their tails off and that's a part that I know they see that, I know that our guys see that on film, so I thought the O-line played well. I know four sacks isn't very sexy, but that was a good front and a defense that plays well and could have got the ball out a little quicker a couple times. But I thought they picked up some really good pressures and gave us a chance. And honestly, during the week of preparation, I think the o-line was the guys who really brought the energy and the juice at practice. I'm anticipating those guys continuing to build and honestly keep taking the right steps forward here late in the season."

On Josh Cuevas:

"Josh is an elite tight end. He's as good a player as we have on this football team. He's heavily involved in the pass game every week. He's always a viable target, and he's definitely a guy who has the courage to get in there and block as well. You saw him on a couple of ISO blocks. He's a phenomenal player.  He's a guy who breaks tackles. He's not just a tight end who's going to catch a stick route and fall down. He's absolutely a spark in our offense in a lot of different ways. So super valuable guy."