Alabama football won Saturday’s matchup at Kentucky 49-12, moving to 9-1 on the season, 7-0 in SEC play. The win was enough to clinch the Crimson Tide’s trip to Atlanta with the SEC West title.

Jalen Milroe starred in Saturday’s game for Alabama, despite suffering from what appeared to be a quad injury during the first half. He finished the game with three passing touchdowns and added three more on the ground.

Nick Saban spoke with media in Lexington after the game. Here the highlights from his press conference.

— Saban says he’s proud of Alabama. Says team has great togetherness and leadership, and players have improved. Says players have good relationships with each other. Says Kentucky was a bit of a trap game and he’s proud of players not buying into “rat poison.”

— Says It’s great that Alabama won the west and will play for an SEC title. Says he doesn’t think many people believed in Tide after Texas and South Florida games, but he always did.

— Says players told him to look around at empty stadium after the win in Lexington.

— Praises how Jalen Milroe played. Notes offense did a good job taking what defense gave them.

— Says Alabama has shown great perseverance and has done a good job to “manage hard.” Says that came from confidence and belief. Says coaches have done good job selling players on right way.

— Says stopping run game was “key to the drill.” Notes that controlling line of scrimmage against physical Kentucky team was Alabama’s top objective.

— Saban says challenge of 2023 team has been fun. Says Alabama has had huge expectations in recent years, which he didn’t have for this year’s team. Says he knew current team would be work in process.

— Saban says he loves Kool-Aid McKinstry. Says gunner ran into McKinstry on muffed punt early in game. Saban reiterates that he has full confidence in the cornerback’s return abilities.

— Says Alabama had more players out than ever before. Says Jermaine Burton was too sick to make the trip. Says he was really pleased with players who filled in for Burton, along with Ja’Corey Brooks, Deontae Lawson and Jaylen Key.

— Says its important for Alabama to “nickel and dime” defense instead of just relying on big plays offensively. Says a five yard pass is just as good as a five yard run. Notes Tide did good job on third down and keeping the ball.

— Says Milroe’s confidence is growing.