Nick Saban discusses Alabama scheduling philosophy shift toward home-and-home series
One thing that has annoyed fans is that big-time programs, like Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide, have gotten away in recent years from playing great home-and-home series in their out-of-conference schedules. Instead, they’ve played neutral site games, like the Miami Hurricanes in Atlanta. However, that philosophy appears to be changing, with a series starting in 2022 with Texas.
As Nick Saban explained at a press conference, Nick Saban explained that neutral site games were always done because it’s more difficult to schedule two games than one and it was a good experience for fans. However, he also opened up about why Alabama is moving away from that model.
“We always played neutral site games in the past because of scheduling issues and it was a great experience for fans for, you know, a long time,” Nick Saban said. “And we always were able to get a really good opponent to play, but, you know, we kind of changed philosophies in trying to get home-and-home games, so that we could play really good opponents home and away.”
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“We think that Utah State is a good opponent,” Nick Saban said of Alabama’s Week 1 opponent. “And it’s great to always play at home. I know the players look forward to it.”
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“I think one of the things you gotta realize about playing at home, it’s not about playing at home. It’s not the crowd, it’s not anybody else is going to help you play good. It’s still about what you do. How you need to play, how you need to go out there and execute. So, I know the players are always excited about playing in Bryant-Denny Stadium. We’re always excited about it and hopefully this game helps us, you know, see where we are so that we can make the improvements we need to make throughout the season to be the best team that we can be.”
It’s worth pointing out that the Utah State game that Nick Saban brings up is a one-off game, not a home-and-home. However, the Crimson Tide do have home-and-home series scheduled over the next decade against Wisconsin, Florida State, West Virginia, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech.