ALABAMA FOOTBALL: Tide focused on getting better during bye week

Nick Saban talked this week about ignoring “external factors” and refocusing on what has Alabama 8-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country.

Improvement.

“We need to work hard to finish things better. Finish games, finish plays, finish practice and focus on improvement,” Saban said earlier this week.

The coach talked about the lessons Alabama hopefully learned in its escape against Tennessee leading into this week’s open date. He said his impression was that his team was “playing to keep from getting beat rather than playing to win — and there’s a tremendous difference in that.”

Senior defensive end Lorenzo Washington knows what Saban was talking about.

“If you went out there and thought about, ‘We’re No. 1, we can’t do this, we can’t do that.’ You will lose,” Washington said flatly.

Asked if the pressure of being highly ranked for the second straight season is easier this time around, Washington said there is a different feel to this campaign.

“Last year, we were just playing like underdogs last year,” he said of Alabama’s surprising 12-0 regular season. “Now we’re not underdogs. The target’s on us more. It’s similar to last year, but it’s not.”

Saban said the players need to understand what he called “the by-product of their success.”

“Everybody’s going to play great games against us,” the coach said. “We’re not going to sneak up on anybody. No one’s going to overlook the game they have with Alabama.

“Everybody’s got it circled on their schedule. And you have to now understand that and be ready to play your best every time you go out and play.”

Alabama did not play its best against Tennessee. The offense did not score a touchdown. The defense was on the field for much of the second half.

Terrence Cody said the defense made crucial mistakes at the wrong time.

“Getting off the field on third down is what we try to do every week,” Cody said. “We try to get better every week. We have a couple periods in practice where we work on getting off the field. At the same time, we were kind of tired and sluggish.”

Saban said he doesn’t like to play more than six games in a row without giving players a break. The Tennessee game was the Crimson Tide’s eighth straight game.

“I wouldn’t blame it all on being tired,” Cody said. “It comes from a lack of focus.”

Saban said there wasn’t a specific problem with the defense.

“It’s a problem where you have one guy doesn’t do the right thing on one play, then the next time somebody else doesn’t do the right thing, then the next time somebody …” he said, his voice trailing off.

“It still comes down to consistency in performance. And every guy’s got to do the right thing. We had more errors and several of them were on third down. Now, let me give all the credit in the world to the other team because they did a good job of creating some of those circumstances. ... But, still, you have to execute against that.”

Saban said the key to this open date is players taking advantage of it.

“I think we have some guys that need to develop good practice habits and have good practice habits all the time because some of those things are starting to show on the field,” he said. “Some of it’s guys that are banged up and can’t go and that type of thing, but still, better practice, perfect practice, will help that performance in games.”

The coach added the players have some responsibility this week.

“I think everybody has to be professional about the way they take care of themselves in this bye week in terms of getting rest and getting treatment, healed up,” he said. “Take vitamins, do whatever you have to do, sort of lift, recover, get back a little bit psychologically as well as physically.”

Washington said it will make a big difference if this week helps as much as he thinks it will.

“We still know we have a great opportunity to do a lot of things,” the senior said. “Focus on each week. It’s not like we’re 8-0, we’re 0-0. Play LSU like it’s Virginia Tech, the first game.”