Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist
It's been a philosophical week for Nick Saban.
In part, that is simply the time of the season. In August, an entire press conference could be spent with Saban answering variations on the question of who the starting quarterback would be, a line of inquiry so powerful that it lingered three weeks into the season.
Success eventually takes care of controversy. If a team isn't doing well, press conferences can be combative. But as a team puts together a winning streak, people ask less about "who" - which players will be, are you going to change kickers and so forth - and more about "how" and "why."
You can always ask about injuries, and how someone's ankle or knee is doing, then move on to questions about the opposing team's quarterback. Saban answers most of the questions in a respectful and courteous fashion, but disposes of them pretty quickly unless you want to know about the subtleties of secondary play. Even in a particularly relevant week, with the No. 1-ranked team in the country coming to town, there are only so many informational items to be covered. But Saban has also seemed pensive during the Mississippi State build-up, even taking a question about the Crimson Tide's field goal kicker and turning it into a thoughtful reply regarding the expectation of perfection among the Alabama fan base.
That carried over into Saban's Thursday night radio show. The media guest was Tom Rinaldi, widely recognized and appreciated for his thoughtful features that are frequently the highlight of ESPN's college football coverage. He knows his stuff, but isn't the type to ask how the second-team fullback is doing. Instead, he coaxed Saban to talk about team and family and, to no one's surprise, coaxed some interesting anecdotes that didn't come out in the frenzied postgame atmosphere in Baton Rouge.
"Part of the motivation for our team last week was when T.J, fumbled, they did not want that to be on him," Saban said. "They didn't want it to be that T.J. did something that caused us to lose the game. That speaks to team chemistry and how our guys have each other's back."
There were a couple of fan questions about current players - we learned about Yeldon's value as a pass blocker - but then it was back to the mental makeup of the team.
"The LSU game has become such an emotional game in the last seven years, with a lot of consequences on the line," he said. "And when you have an emotional win like that, there is a lot of hangover. I've addressed that with the players, that we came from an emotional win down there two years ago and were behind Texas A&M 21-0. Now, you can't discount that it was a physical game and that you get banged up. But mentally, you've got to come back and be ready to play."
There was more. Saban talked about his father, and the inspirational message he has learned from the San Antonio Spurs. He counseled a young fan from a household with an Alabama dad and a Mississippi State mom to "wear his diplomatic hat."
He even talked about the future as it will be affected by the coming contest.
"This team will be defined by how it finishes the season," Saban said. "Every team does. We were 11-0 last year and lost to Auburn in a close game and lost the bowl game, and that's how that team was defined. That's still ahead of us."
That makes for a perfect bridge into the weekend's game, both as something to enjoy - and something to think about.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1704181
TideSports.com Columnist
It's been a philosophical week for Nick Saban.
In part, that is simply the time of the season. In August, an entire press conference could be spent with Saban answering variations on the question of who the starting quarterback would be, a line of inquiry so powerful that it lingered three weeks into the season.
Success eventually takes care of controversy. If a team isn't doing well, press conferences can be combative. But as a team puts together a winning streak, people ask less about "who" - which players will be, are you going to change kickers and so forth - and more about "how" and "why."
You can always ask about injuries, and how someone's ankle or knee is doing, then move on to questions about the opposing team's quarterback. Saban answers most of the questions in a respectful and courteous fashion, but disposes of them pretty quickly unless you want to know about the subtleties of secondary play. Even in a particularly relevant week, with the No. 1-ranked team in the country coming to town, there are only so many informational items to be covered. But Saban has also seemed pensive during the Mississippi State build-up, even taking a question about the Crimson Tide's field goal kicker and turning it into a thoughtful reply regarding the expectation of perfection among the Alabama fan base.
That carried over into Saban's Thursday night radio show. The media guest was Tom Rinaldi, widely recognized and appreciated for his thoughtful features that are frequently the highlight of ESPN's college football coverage. He knows his stuff, but isn't the type to ask how the second-team fullback is doing. Instead, he coaxed Saban to talk about team and family and, to no one's surprise, coaxed some interesting anecdotes that didn't come out in the frenzied postgame atmosphere in Baton Rouge.
"Part of the motivation for our team last week was when T.J, fumbled, they did not want that to be on him," Saban said. "They didn't want it to be that T.J. did something that caused us to lose the game. That speaks to team chemistry and how our guys have each other's back."
There were a couple of fan questions about current players - we learned about Yeldon's value as a pass blocker - but then it was back to the mental makeup of the team.
"The LSU game has become such an emotional game in the last seven years, with a lot of consequences on the line," he said. "And when you have an emotional win like that, there is a lot of hangover. I've addressed that with the players, that we came from an emotional win down there two years ago and were behind Texas A&M 21-0. Now, you can't discount that it was a physical game and that you get banged up. But mentally, you've got to come back and be ready to play."
There was more. Saban talked about his father, and the inspirational message he has learned from the San Antonio Spurs. He counseled a young fan from a household with an Alabama dad and a Mississippi State mom to "wear his diplomatic hat."
He even talked about the future as it will be affected by the coming contest.
"This team will be defined by how it finishes the season," Saban said. "Every team does. We were 11-0 last year and lost to Auburn in a close game and lost the bowl game, and that's how that team was defined. That's still ahead of us."
That makes for a perfect bridge into the weekend's game, both as something to enjoy - and something to think about.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1704181
