Nick Saban responds to criticism after Texas loss: 'Why wouldn't we get criticized if we didn't play well?'

In light of Alabama’s 34-24 loss to Texas last week, some former Crimson Tide players shared their thoughts on the state of the program. One of them was Trent Richardson, who said Alabama needs to get back to “Bama Ball” during an interview this week.

When asked about the outside criticism, Nick Saban offered a candid response.

Saban said Alabama deserved to be criticized for its performance in the loss. Not only did the Crimson Tide lose by 10 points on their home turf — a rarity under Saban — but they also committed 10 penalties for 90 yards. Saban talked about the little things during his press conference, which is why he took responsibility for the miscues.

“I talked to the players about internal standard vs. external noise,” Saban said. “And, you know, I think that we didn’t play great. So people get upset that we get criticized. But why wouldn’t we get criticized if we don’t play well? I mean, people call me and say, ‘Hey, man, this guy’s a jerk for saying this about you.’ No, he really isn’t. I mean, it’s right. We didn’t play good. I’m responsible for that. We did all these things on offense that I just talked about, add them up. Well, I mean, I’m responsible for that.

“In the real world, when you don’t perform and you don’t produce, you probably get criticized, sometimes get penalized. Some people lose their job when they don’t perform well. That’s maybe even worse than losing a game when you can’t feed your family and your children and all that, make your house payment.”

Nick Saban: ‘I haven’t listened to one talk radio show’ or ‘read one newspaper’ after loss to Texas

Since Saturday night’s loss, Saban said he’s had tunnel vision. He hasn’t heard any of the conversation outside the program because he wants to focus on righting the ship following the upset defeat. He’s not on social media, but his players are.

That’s why he wants them to take a similar approach regarding outside noise. Saban said it doesn’t matter what people say outside of the program. It comes down to the players’ ability to execute and bounce back.

“So I don’t really know what the noise is,” Saban said. “I haven’t listened to one talk radio show, I haven’t read one newspaper. I have been focusing 100% of my time on the next team that we play, the last team that we played and what we need to do to fix that.

“And I think all the players would be better served, and everybody in the organization would be better served, if they all did that. Because what somebody else thinks really doesn’t matter. It’s all about what you do and how you respond to what you need to do so that you have a chance to be successful in the future.”