Nick Saban on ‘mentality’ Alabama’s Jalen Milroe needs to beat LSU

Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier are very different quarterbacks, but share similar traits — both good and bad — former Crimson Tide and Tigers coach Nick Saban said Saturday.

During a film breakdown segment alongside fellow analyst Kirk Herbstreit on Saturday’s edition of ESPN College GameDay, Saban noted that both Milroe and Nussmeier are capable of the outstanding play at any time. But when they get themselves and their team in trouble, Saban said, is when they to do too much.

The first-year GameDay analyst used a basketball analogy when discussing how Milroe and Nussmeier could avoid mistakes in Saturday night’s SEC showdown at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

“That’s the biggest problem with these guys,” Saban said. “They want to make plays, but they don’t need to (have a) shooting guard mentality. They need point guard mentality. You have 13 assists in a game and no turnovers and that’s good quarterback play.”

Milroe has thrown for 1,937 yards and 13 touchdowns with six interceptions this season, and has added 380 yards and 12 scores rushing. However, he threw five interceptions and was sacked nine times during a three-game October stretch where Alabama played its worst football, going 1-2 vs. Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Nussmeier, more of a pure pocket passer than Milroe, has passed for 2,627 yards and 20 touchdowns with nine interceptions this season. He threw three interceptions, was sacked twice and completed only 50% of his passes in a 38-23 loss at Texas A&M two weeks ago, the Tigers’ first SEC defeat of the season.

“Both these guys are great competitors and they want to make plays,” Saban said. “But the thing that I always tried to emphasize to Jalen last year was ‘you can’t make plays that stop drive, you can’t get sacked, you can’t throw interceptions, you can’t make poor decisions.’”