Nick Saban addresses how Alabama maintains consistency when playing with a lead

Alabama let their foot off the pedal a bit last Saturday in the win over Arkansas, which sparked a speech from Nick Saban this week on the importance of giving 100% effort on every snap.

As he does weekly, Coach Saban joined the Pat McAfee Show to discuss the recent Crimson Tide victory and various other topics. During that win vs. Arkansas, Alabama got up 24-6 but allowed the Razorbacks to score a pair of touchdowns and trim the deficit down to three before the clock finally ran out.

Former NFL star AJ Hawk asked about the Arkansas comeback in particular, wondering what Saban can do to protect against such a loss of focus.

“I think we talk about this all the time, you know: how are you impacted by external factors? The scoreboard is an external factor in a game,” Saban explained. “So, you get behind in a game, you put your foot on the gas and play harder or better or whatever. You get ahead in the game, you get relieved and don’t play as well, alright. But neither one of those are good things to do.

“You know, if you’re trying to be the best player that you can be, who you’re playing against, what the team’s record is, what the score in the game is — none of those things should really matter.”

Back when he was a pro coach scouting college players, Saban says he never cared about the score or level of competition when watching snaps of prospects, and says that his players need to have that approach as well.

“I’d tell players all the time when I was in the NFL, they made me a cut-up of you,” Saban said. “I didn’t know who you were playing against, I didn’t know what the score of the game was, but I was evaluating how you played every play in that game.”

If his players want to reach their ultimate dreams, Nick Saban says they’ll need to remain sharp on every single snap.

“So, if it’s your goal to be the best player you can be, so maybe you have the opportunity to develop a career as a football player, why would you let any of these external factors impact or affect how you play, how you focus, how you keep mental intensity and energy up to be the best that you can be,” he added.