Once a year, Alabama head coach Nick Saban seems to have one rant that seems to go viral every time the Tide plays a lesser opponent. This season is no exception.
This week it’s Louisiana-Monroe facing his Crimson Tide on Saturday. The Tide are 49-point favorites but that doesn’t seem to matter to the head coach, who went off on a rant when asked about how hard it is to gauge growth when playing a lesser opponent.
“That’s your opinion on quality of opponent, aight. It’s not mine,” Saban said. “I respect all of the people that we play, and I respect winning and what you have to do to win, aight. And every player should not be focused on who they’re playing against relative to their motivation, but every player should want to be the best player they can be. So why would it matter whether we’re playing Texas or playing somebody else? That’s how you get good. That’s how you develop the right habits. That’s how you’re consistent.”
If the Crimson Tide need any motivation for the week, all they have to look at the upsets that happened last week in the Top 15. No. 8 Notre Dame lost to Marshall, No. 6 Texas A&M lost to Appalachian State, and No. 12 Florida lost to No. 20 Kentucky. Bama also lost to this same school in Tuscaloosa in Saban’s first year as head coach.
The Crimson Tide can’t afford a letdown and most Tide fans agreed with the coach’s rant.
https://twitter.com/andyb2383/status/1570469654774288389
We’ll see how much of Saban’s rant sinks in on Saturday.
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.