In sports, every coach will try and avoid having its players look at the bigger picture of a game. Staying in the moment and worrying about the task in front of you is one of the ways Nick Saban has built one of the greatest dynasties in all of sports.
The classic phrase “do your job” has worked wonders for Saban and his close friend and former employer Bill Belichick, and has kept his team streamlined for over a decade. But it’s hard not to acknowledge the importance of Monday’s national championship game.
Not only is it the ultimate milestone for every team in college football to achieve, but it could be the bookend of one of the best recruiting classes in Alabama history and the final knockout punch for any opposing arguments to Saban being the best to ever coach at the college level.
The three headliners remaining from the 2017 class in Mac Jones, DeVonta Smith and Najee Harris will be looking to end their careers right and cap off one of the greatest offensive seasons ever. The 2020 Alabama team was the first team since 1946 where one roster had three players finish inside the top five in the Heisman Trophy voting.
The Tide even took home the award this season with Smith becoming the first receiver to win the Heisman since 1991.
Harris has broken numerous school rushing records surpassing legends like Derrick Henry and Mark Ingram and Jones has collected an extensive case of individual awards which include the Davey O’Brien Award.
This alone would be enough for any program to chalk up as a legendary team. But ask the 2018 Crimson Tide and any Game of Thrones fan.
How you finish matters.
And there would be no better finish than to become the first Alabama team since 2009 to finish a season undefeated. Saban has even used that as a talking point for motivation with the team and has resonated to some degree with the players.
“Obviously we hope that we can win it all and go undefeated, but we worry about the small things first and then work up to the main event, and that’s playing Monday,” Harris said.
Senior tight end Miller Forristall is also aware of the potential accomplishment Alabama is looking at and is also hoping to take a steady approach like Harris.
“I know coach mentioned a little bit how we have the opportunity to do something special that no one has ever done before, but honestly I think everybody is just kind of focused on Ohio State, as cliche as that sounds,” Forristall said. “I don’t think anybody is looking forward to, ‘Oh, what a legacy we could have’. We just kind of want to do what we can do today, not necessarily what we could do down the road.”
Monday’s game holds a ton of importance, even if the players don’t want to admit to the full scale of it which they shouldn’t.
Going one play at a time is what got them here and it’s what will be the driving force to hopefully securing the school’s 18th national title.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
