🏈 Nick Saban: Tennessee, not Auburn, is 'always the biggest game for us'

[rick4bama]

Some here may think this, but you don't live 40 miles north on HWY 431 from that other place he said. But I still don't like that puke team

Nick Saban: Tennessee, not Auburn, is 'always the biggest game for us'

Alabama football coach Nick Saban appears at his weekly radio show "Hey, Coach!" at Bob's Victory Grille in Tuscaloosa the week of the Crimson Tide's game against Southern Mississippi on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014. Also appearing on the show were host Tom Roberts and media guest and ESPN reporter Shannon Spake. (Ben Flanagan/al.com)
Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com


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By Rainer Sabin | rsabin@al.com
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on September 29, 2016 at 9:40 PM, updated September 29, 2016 at 9:49 PM

It's widely assumed the Iron Bowl is the game Alabama cares about more than any other. After all, it's an obsession in this state 24/7, 365 days a year.

But Nick Saban says the contest the Crimson Tide plays on the third Saturday in October means even more to the members of the team. Prompted by a caller who was peering ahead to Alabama's matchup with Tennessee on Oct. 15, Saban made that admission Thursday on his weekly radio show, "Hey Coach."

"I think you get very quickly a feel for what your own players on your own team, even that were here before you came here, what's important to them," Saban said. "And it was very obvious to me that the Tennessee game was always the biggest game. It was always the biggest game for us. That's no disrespect to Auburn or the great Iron Bowl rivalries. But to our players and a lot of our fans, the Tennessee game, because of the tradition of the game, [is important], so it didn't take long to figure that out."

Saban, who is not one to look ahead, failed to make note of the fact the Tide has never lost to the Volunteers since he became the coach in 2007. As expected, he quickly shifted the conversation back to Kentucky, that other SEC East team Alabama plays this Saturday.

 

[TUSKtimes]

I'm sure that coach Bryant felt the same way. Going back to the rivalry when he was here as a player, also that coach Neyland having the vols in the national spotlight, the truth is Alabama vs Tennessee has always had a historical narrative second to none in the deep south. I know in growing up this is the one game that mattered most to me personally and still does. Tennessee can moan and groan about their nemesis Florida, but that is only the post-1992 divisional east stuff talking and the fact they just can't beat them in the past quarter of a century. The real hatred is for us and the feeling has always been mutual and then some.

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

I've felt this way for a long time. Of course part of mine comes from the fact I lived in middle 10rc from '83-'90 and had to be around that bunch of heehaw rejects on a daily basis

 

[jdpas29]

i have been to neyland stadium for the game once.... that was all it took to solidify my already seething hatred.

 

[mhardiman]

I'd have to believe (after GT left the conference) Alabama vs. Tennessee game decided the Conference Champ more than any other conference rivalry. Speaking of Georgia Tech; have any of y'all ever went back and looked at there SEC in conference record from 1933 to 1966 (I believe)? Pretty impressive; other then us they dominated. I'd have to believe had they never left the conference the two of us would have been comparable to the domination Michigan and Ohio State has in the B1G. There domination included Tennessee, LSU, Auburn and Georgia. Maybe that's why the barn and Georgia rivalry started; battle of the two little brother's of there state maybe?

 

[bamascw]

I can only say "ditto" to most of the above statements. Being a Memphian and marrying a UT alum, I am surrounded by Vols........I suppose not being from Alabama makes this game seem bigger to me than the Auburn game. My favorite part of the rivalry is when all of the UT "fans" take up duck hunting full time shortly after the 3rd Saturday in October.

 

[rick4bama]

I'd have to believe (after GT left the conference) Alabama vs. Tennessee game decided the Conference Champ more than any other conference rivalry. Speaking of Georgia Tech; have any of y'all ever went back and looked at there SEC in conference record from 1933 to 1966 (I believe)? Pretty impressive; other then us they dominated. I'd have to believe had they never left the conference the two of us would have been comparable to the domination Michigan and Ohio State has in the B1G. There domination included Tennessee, LSU, Auburn and Georgia. Maybe that's why the barn and Georgia rivalry started; battle of the two little brother's of there state maybe?

In 1962 GT edge out Bama 7-6 after the game the student at GT threw liquor bottle at Coach Bryant. Two years later when Bama return to Grant Field Coach Bryant came on to the field wearing a football helmet.

 

[TUSKtimes]

I can only say "ditto" to most of the above statements. Being a Memphian and marrying a UT alum, I am surrounded by Vols........I suppose not being from Alabama makes this game seem bigger to me than the Auburn game. My favorite part of the rivalry is when all of the UT "fans" take up duck hunting full time shortly after the 3rd Saturday in October.

I lived in Milan just a few years, right before the Manning years, thank goodness. Every bank in town was called "Volunteer." Ended up at some Farmer exchange thing. But that orange was hard on the retinas. Tried to pick up Bama games on the radio but couldn't get much, all stations were broadcasting Tennessee. I couldn't even pick up Vandy most of the time and we're just outside Nashville. I can say, they feel like we feel and when you put Crimson in front of them and a scripted A, it's on. I know that, cause it was my #1 guilty pleasure while I was there.

 

[Che Boludo]

I grew up in NW Alabama and went to grade school/HS about 25 miles South of the UT Stateline.

There was always a greater hate for UT than Auburn.

If you or your parents are in the 67 yo+ age group, Auburn was an afterthought until really the 80s. At our house Auburn fell below UT and ND on the hate list. My Dad still has GT on par or slightly above Auburn as far as teams that draw any sort of true vitriolic response most commonly associated with a "rival" program.

 

[RoeTied]

Also to note that Coach has a personal disdain for the Tennessee program. This is about as close as he'll ever come to saying it publicly. He hated them while at LSU and he sure as hell hates them now.

 

[kbama15]

I cant stand UT! but, I live close to the Barn and absolutely love it when Bama whoops them!!! Roll Tide!! Have a Great weekend everybody!!!

 

[mhardiman]

Also to note that Coach has a personal disdain for the Tennessee program. This is about as close as he'll ever come to saying it publicly. He hated them while at LSU and he sure as hell hates them now.

If you don't mind; please elaborate. I'm not calling BS by any means, but I've just never heard this before!

 

[Che Boludo]

Also to note that Coach has a personal disdain for the Tennessee program. This is about as close as he'll ever come to saying it publicly. He hated them while at LSU and he sure as hell hates them now.

East TN and WV have a longstanding feud of who are America's true hillbillies, so it's understandable

 

[Sid Youngleman]

As I've said elsewhere on the 'net, I strongly suspect that Saban's comments are less about what the team's attitude toward the Vols really is than about what he wants it to be, with a game in Knoxville against a newly respectable Tennessee on the horizon. Why would today's Bama players feel any particular sense of rivalry with Tennessee? The cigars? A large percentage of our current players grew up in places where the Third Saturday in October was of no special significance. Everyone on today's team would have been 10 or so the last time Tennessee won. And the majority of Bama's wins during that period have been blowouts, the closest call coming when Tennessee was coached by some guy from California. If the present team sees the game against the Vols as an exercise in "rivalry," somebody had to assure them that it is.

In short, I think that CNS is playing his usual mind games and that his players are the true intended audience for what he said. He may even grant them a mulligan after the Tennessee game and report a recount revealing that his guys want to beat Auburn even more.

 

[Bamabww]

I think just about all of us who are old enough to remember when Coach Bryant returned to Alabama hate the viles more than awbarn. I guess this young man sums up most of our feelings toward the viles:

i have been to neyland stadium for the game once.... that was all it took to solidify my already seething hatred.

Amen. I made that trip once myself and the end result was the same as yours.

 

[alabama mike]

I feel that way and have for a long, long time.

 

[We All Bleed Crimson]

I grew up in Huntsville. In the 60s and 70s, there was always a bigger concern about ut than au. Even when sullivan won the heisman at au, there didn't seem to be as much concern about them. The ut game usually was a physical fist fight. This series has been a series of streaks. To me, the au game is absolutely HUGE, but winning the ut game is ESSENTIAL.
But the bottom line is simply WIN 'EM ALL!

 

[mando]

The Viles game has always been the biggest rival for me. Grew up close to the Tn state line in the 70's and remember vile fans wanted to talk crap all the time. Have a sister in law that is a Vile fan. They talked a lot of crap during the Shula and Dubose years.

During that same time frame no one cared about the barn. If there were Aub fans around you would not know it because they were to ashamed of that pathetic product to say anything.

Roll Tide and next up beat the Hogs....