Nick Saban doesn’t often give himself a pat on the back, but maybe he should this season.
After Alabama looked as vulnerable as it’s ever been under Saban following its substandard performance against USF earlier in the year, the Crimson Tide is playing its best football at the right time and now appears to be coming into form.
Following its week off ahead of the LSU game on Saturday, Jalen Milroe and the Alabama offense ironed out the wrinkles it had in the early portions of its games, scoring 21 first-half points against the Tigers. Then with a few changes on the defense in the second half, it played what appeared to be its most complete game of the year.
So does Saban credit himself at all for what he’s been able to do?
When asked whether he does after the game, the seven-time national champion opted to rather praise his coaching staff and players.
“I think the credit goes to the coaching staff and the players,” Saban said. “This group of guys have shown tremendous resiliency to continue to improve. I think they trust the coaches. They respect what we’re trying to do to help them be better players. And it’s resulted in a team that is consistently improved throughout the year. And we’ve just got to try to keep doing it.”
With Alabama catching fire late in the season it is only reigniting the lofty preseason goals it had set for itself, but Saban says that this team still has a choice to make in the late games of the year.
“We’ve had two big games in a row here and still got two SEC games left and another game, so you’re either going to make a choice about taking care of business or continue to take care of business in the future,” Saban said. “Because we can create an opportunity for ourself and maybe win the West and maybe get in the SEC Championship game, and who knows what happens from there.”
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
