Nick Saban gives strong response to question about rat poison, how he's handling it entering Texas A&M game

Alabama head coach Nick Saban famously refers to outside noise and distractions as rat poison, and apparently this year, rat poison is the worst it’s ever been. Ahead of their matchup versus Texas A&M, Saban was asked about how he and his players handle all of the criticism and outside noise in the new era of college football when it seems to be at an all-time high.

“Well obviously at times we haven’t handled it very well, because I was talking about rat poison last year when we played this game,” Saban said. “Nobody would listen, players wouldn’t listen, ya’ll didn’t listen, they had lost the week before, we were big favorites, it was like no big deal to show up for this game, go play the next game.”

Alabama fell to the Aggies last season in upset fashion 41-38 in a game they were heavily favored in, as they enter this year’s matchup versus them 24-point favorites as well. Saban elaborated how rat poison doesn’t necessarily impact him, but more so impacts his players.

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“And I don’t get affected by it because I don’t listen to you all, I really don’t have any interest in what anybody thinks about any of this stuff. I do have an interest in how it affects and impacts the players on our team and I think it does, and I think they have to show maturity in how they manage it and know that external opinion, external noise, whatever you want to call it, rat poison, whatever it is absolutely has nothing to do with the outcome of the game,” Saban said.

Saban picked up his intensity, speaking with conviction about how even fans are another external factor that do not impact games, and can be managed by good play on their end.

“Just like fans have nothing to do with the outcome of the game, they don’t block, they don’t tackle, they don’t catch passes, they don’t make sacks,” Saban said adamantly. “All they do is make noise, and if you want to take them out of the game just play well, execute, and they wont be there, they’ll leave.”

It’s clear Saban is not a fan of how outside opinions have impacted his locker room and impacted what he cares about most, winning. Saban and the Crimson Tide’s success has put them in a unique position and a high pedestal in the college football landscape, which presents a variety of different challenges.

“So these are external factors that cannot affect how you think as a competitor in terms of respecting winning, respecting what you have to do to win, and how important it is. Knowing we’re going to get the other team’s best game, because they can all get well beating us. So that’s how I try to handle it, does anybody listen?” Saban asked. “Sometimes, sometimes not.”

It sounds like Saban’s message doesn’t necessarily resonate with each and every member of his team all of the time, but hopefully for Alabama, it resonates with enough of them to avoid deja vu this time around versus the Aggies this weekend.