Alabama coach Nick Saban has always been noted for his thoroughness in preparing for in-game situations.
If it has happened in a game, Alabama probably practices it at least periodically. If it hasn’t happened yet, Alabama has probably practiced that, too.
That includes covering missed field goals, as was the case at the end of the 2013 Iron Bowl.
“Ever since that day, we practice it a lot,” senior cornerback Anthony Averett said.
Averett was redshirting during the 2013 season. He’s been practicing with Alabama for five years now.
He said Alabama usually practices those scenarios or other strange situations on Wednesday or Thursday. The Crimson Tide works on more than just covering missed field goals.
It may be the defense or special teams practicing defending a late-game play with multiple laterals. It may be the offense learning to burn the final few seconds of clock with a quarterback scrambling before throwing the ball away on the last play of the game.
“We have a Friday that’s really a walk-through basically,” Saban said. “We try to sometimes practice those things in a regular practice week and maybe practice them once every two or three weeks. On Friday walk-through, we try to cover as many of those special situations as we can. We’ve always done that and will continue to do that.”
Alabama works on all of it, and then some. Those strange final plays may be once-in-a-decade occurrences, but they may decide one of the biggest games in that decade.
“We just have to be ready for things like that,” Averett said. “At the end of the game it determines if you are going to win or lose the game sometimes, you never know.”
