Coming up with timely phrases such as “rat poison” is never a difficult proposition for him, but when he gets worked up after five minutes into an opening statement, one can anticipate Alabama football head coach Nick Saban’s desire to stress a very critical point.
After showing complete domination against Vanderbilt and Mississippi, nothing but praise was showered over the Crimson Tide. Following an inability to finish versus Texas A&M, statements of adoration continued to pour in and while Saban has enjoyed coaching this year’s team, he knows that the group is not where it needs to be in aspects of consistency on the field.
An upset special occurred last week in college football as four top-10 teams – Clemson, Washington, Washington State and Auburn – all went down. Buying into their own hype, which Saban coins as the poison, caused a lack of focus from these schools and a downfall as a result.
Sophomore Mack Wilson made a chose to post a photo on Twitter (later deleted) with him alongside former Alabama star linebackers Reuben Foster and Tim Williams smoking cigars to conclude the Tennessee game last season, but that doesn’t factor into the mindset Saban speaks on.
@ Bama we don’t do trash talk we respect all of our opponents. We just play ever game like it’s the National Championship 🤷🏾♂️
— Mack Wilson Sr. (@5mackwilson1) October 19, 2017
“Physical reps are important because you need to go out there and do it right,” Saban said at Wednesday’s presser. “If you don’t have the right mental energy and intensity to focus, you cannot get the right mental rep. That’s when you create bad habits and show up not ready.”
On paper, the Tide has the edge over Tennessee with its athletes, game plan, coaching staff and fans; nevertheless, Saban does not want the same thing that happened to the four teams listed above to be the fate of his unit. Whether one looks at the Volunteers as a group that should be either 5-1 or 2-4 – depending on interpretation – it has a lot of talent entering at 3-3 this year.
“This is when you get in the game and sort of have an arrogant attitude in the way you prepare and things do not go the way you wanted,” Saban said in continuing his point. “You get frustrated and then all of a sudden, you get beat. And that’s how top-10 teams get beat.”
People that desire to be great make good choices. Not only did he stress this to his coaching staff in not overlooking teams, but Saban also mentioned how choices matter on the field.
“You choose your energy, you choose the way you want to practice and you choose the way you play in a game,” he said. “You choose the mindset you want to have, you choose how you are going to respect the other team and you choose to see how you get along with teammates.”
While he can’t make decisions for his players, the 65-year-old hopes his team will respond each week in the way he would like for it to respond. Alabama faces Tennessee on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium at 2:30 p.m. (CT), and though Las Vegas has the Tide as a 36-point favorite, Saban just wants focus from his bunch.
Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @Smsmith_TDALMag.
