Nick Saban explains how Alabama has been learning from adversity all season

One year after making it to the national championship game behind Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, Alabama missed the College Football Playoff this year, coming in at No. 5 in the final top 25 rankings. The Crimson Tide dealt with their share of adversity this year, and Nick Saban acknowledged that in his Sugar Bowl press conference Sunday.

Saban said his team battled through a lot this year, notably Young’s injury. He got hurt during Alabama’s victory over Arkansas and missed the next game against Texas A&M as a result. Along with two losses in the final seconds, Saban said his group learned quite a bit.

Now, the goal is simple. He wants to build off this season and use those experiences to make the program better.

“I think every adversity creates an opportunity, and I certainly think that we had some adversity throughout the season,” Saban said. “I think it started when Bryce got hurt at Arkansas and didn’t play in the A&M game and was not probably full strength for the next month of the season. And we didn’t make the progress that we would have liked to have made during that time.

“But we lost two really tough games on the last play of the game in both instances. We had opportunities in both of those games and weren’t able to take advantage of it. I think our team learned a lot from that. And I thought we played well as a team in the last three games. So hopefully we can continue to build on that.”

Nick Saban provides initial impressions of Kansas State ahead of Sugar Bowl

For the second time since its inception, Alabama has missed the College Football Playoff. Instead, they’re set to battle a white-hot Kansas State squad fresh off a high Big-12 Championship overtime victory over TCU.

Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban wasn’t watching the game, but he had nothing but good things to say about what he’s seen from afar.

“I didn’t have an opportunity to watch the [Big-12 Championship game], although that was an outstanding victory for them,” Saban said Sunday. “We had recruits in this weekend, so we didn’t get a chance to see the game or get a chance to view their film. But we have a tremendous respect for them, their accomplishments, their players, their coaches and what they’ve been able to do this season.”