Nate Oats discusses handling expectations as No. 1-ranked team

For the first time this season, Alabama has reached the ‘mountaintop’ as they became the latest team to be No. 1 in the AP Poll. However, Nate Oats doesn’t want that achievement to get to their heads just yet.

Oats spoke in length about managing the expectations of their newest ranking during his press conference on Tuesday. As most coaches do, he reminded everyone just how little it actually matters when you look at the season as a whole as well as the end.

“We have talked about teams that were No. 1 this year and where they’re currently at,” started Oats. “North Carolina? We played them when they were No. 1 and they’re not in the Top-25 right now. So we’ve talked about that.”

“I think every team has its own personality. I didn’t talk about being No. 1 with them at all yesterday. We did talk about it today just a little bit,” Oats said. “Just what does it mean? It means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things of what we’re trying to accomplish this year.

If nothing else, Oats wants the Tide to use it as a motivating factor. With three losses on their record, he has appreciated, after a team has beaten them, how his team responded to it. Now, after becoming the top team in the land, he wants to see how they respond to respect, especially against a top opponent this week.

“It’s real easy to be motivated after an embarrassing loss. So my question was how motivated are you to have a good practice? The first practice after you’re ranked No. 1 in the country?,” asked Oats. “I thought we had a great practice today…This is a maturity test. How hard are we going to play and practice today? I thought we had a great one. How hard are we going to play against Tennessee on the road?”

All eyes will be on Alabama tomorrow night as they arrive in Knoxville for what should be one of the best games in the SEC this season. As for Oats, though, he’ll be looking to see how his team deals with the new level of appreciation they earned to start this week.