📡 When Alabama can clinch the SEC and Nate Oats’ message about that - AL.com

[Bama News]

When Alabama can clinch the SEC and Nate Oats’ message about that

Alabama faces Vanderbilt at noon Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

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The exact number was still a mystery to Nate Oats was asked about the wins Alabama needs to clinch an SEC regular-season championship.

That’s notable since he’s a former math teacher but not surprising given the situation. When it’s been almost 20 years since the last one of these came to Tuscaloosa, there’s no point in a countdown clock.

With four (or five) games to play, Alabama’s close.

The No. 8 Crimson Tide (17-5, 12-1 SEC) can’t ice anything in the noon Saturday visit from last-place Vanderbilt -- at least not without help. It would take an Alabama win and losses from Arkansas (playing second-to-last Texas A&M) and LSU (playing Auburn) to wrap things up Saturday.

Regardless, Alabama holds a three-game lead over second-place Arkansas and a 3.5-game lead over an LSU team it beat twice already. A Wednesday trip to Fayetteville would present Alabama with its best opportunity to clinch with a trip to Mississippi State (Feb. 27) and a visit from Auburn (March 2) concluding the regular-season.

The celebration could have been Saturday had Alabama played and beat Texas A&M, but the midweek game was postponed because of the weather. Whether it is rescheduled remains uncertain as the regular season winds down.

None of that’s been part of Nate Oats’ message to the team entering the final stretch.

“I think once we do clinch it outright, if we’re fortunate enough to get to that spot, we’ll congratulate them,” Oats said Tuesday before the A&M game was postponed. “Shoot, it’s a big deal for these guys.”

Each of the last three Alabama teams finished with identical 8-10 conference records. Only one of the last seven years ended with a winning league record when the 2016-17 Tide finished 10-8 so the current 12-1 mark breaks the mold.

Oats had something to say about that too.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to make a public prediction that we’d be 12-1 after 13 games our second year so probably exceeding expectations,” he said Tuesday. “But now that we’re in it, I’m a little irritated that we’re not 13-0, to be honest with you because I feel like we shouldn’t have lost that one.”

Alabama’s lone league loss came Feb. 6 at Missouri when a comeback from 21 points down fell just short. The Tigers held a tiebreaker over Alabama after the 68-65 win but have lost three straight since then and no longer have a shot at a title with a 6-6 record.

Vanderbilt (6-11, 2-9 SEC) remains at the bottom of the league having won just 11 SEC games over that past four seasons. It’s coming off an 82-78 loss to Kentucky after beating Mississippi State by 21 last Saturday.

Don’t expect a pregame hype speech from Oats to include any talk of cutting down nets before the noon Saturday tip in Coleman Coliseum.

“We’re not going to talk about it until it’s done and over,” Oats said. “Then we’ll congratulate them and get ready to play the next game, whenever that next game would be.”

 

[BamaFan334]

“I wouldn’t have wanted to make a public prediction that we’d be 12-1 after 13 games our second year so probably exceeding expectations,” he said Tuesday. “But now that we’re in it, I’m a little irritated that we’re not 13-0, to be honest with you because I feel like we shouldn’t have lost that one.”

I love this comment. It's not about the ones that you did win, it's about the ones you didn't win. That's what makes a great competitor and a contagious personality to your team. Enjoy it, but always think about what you can do to be perfect.