Comments made by Alabama coach Nick Saban regarding the NIL deals of players at Texas A&M and Jackson State have generated immense buzz around the college football world. Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher had a fiery response. Initially, Jackson State coach Deion Sanders promised a reply of his own to what he called a lie from Saban. Now, he has another idea.
Sanders decided not to talk on the issue. Instead, he issued a challenge to Saban to settle it on the field. Saban’s Alabama team against Sanders’ Jackson State team.
Saban hasn’t exactly generated a lot of sympathy for his comments, to a point where even he did some backtracking from them. Nevertheless, college football fans were mostly unsure if Sanders challenging the perennial powerhouse in Alabama was a good idea.
Though, there would be some benefits for Sanders and the Tigers.
Jackson State would certainly receive a nice payout from the kind of game. So, that is a positive.
From an on-field perspective, this is probably not Sanders’ best idea. While the Tigers had a great season in 2021, they did lose two games against FCS (FKA Division Division I-AA) teams. Going against a powerhouse Alabama program would likely not yield pretty results.
But if Sanders is really serious about this challenge, there’s a good chance that it can happen. From his decades of coaching, we can safely say two things about Saban. One, he knows how to win. Two, he loves scheduling Division I-AA opponents.