“I know that the focus for us was on improvement as a team,” Saban said. “We tried to make corrections and meet with every individual player about what they could do to improve their individual performance. It also was an opportunity to try to get players that had injury issues healed up.”
Quarterback Blake Sims was nursing a minor injury during the bye week. He was hurt when he landed awkwardly on his throwing shoulder after a play against Florida. Sims did not make any throws during the beginning of last week’s practice but started throwing as the week progressed.
“Blake [Sims] was able to throw toward the end of the week last week,” Saban said. “We had him on kind of a pitch count, and he feels a lot better now. We feel like he is OK, and he will be ready to practice.”
Alabama will face an Ole Miss team that has started the season 4-0 and coming off of a 24-3 win over Memphis.
“I think when you play a team like Ole Miss, especially when you’re playing on the road in the SEC West, there are a lot of huge challenges,” Saban said. “The biggest challenge is going to be their team and the quality of their team. I think the things that they do as a team are going to be real challenges for us.”
The matchup on Saturday will be one of three games between SEC West foes ranked in the top 15 nationally. The other two are No. 6 Texas A&M at No. 12 Mississippi State and No. 15 LSU at No. 5 Auburn.
