Nick Saban lectures on 'importance of nothing' ahead of Arkansas matchup

Alabama coach Nick Saban knew exactly what he was going to say when he walked up to the podium for his Wednesday press conference. He prepared the reporters in attendance for what was coming, saying so with a slight smirk.

“Okay,” he said, “y’all ready for a lecture?”

He proceeded to talk about nothing.

Saban’s opening statement was about what he called the “importance of nothing.” His message was simple. He wants his players to put forward their best effort, and only their best effort. If they don’t, it’ll be that much harder to achieve their goals.

That was Saban’s message to his players ahead of this week’s game against Arkansas.

“You get up every day, you’re entitled to nothing,” Saban said. “Nobody owes you, nothing. You could have talent, but if you don’t have discipline and you don’t execute, you don’t focus, what do you get? Nothing. If you’re complacent and not paying attention to detail, what does that get you? Nothing. So, nothing is acceptable but your best. Everything is determined by what you do and you trying to be your best so you can build on positive performance.

“That’s the only thing — there should be nothing else but that for everybody. That’s what we have to stay focused on, that’s what we need to do. We got rained out today, so we had to go inside. We need to not accept anything but our best in terms of what we’re doing in our preparation.”

A big stretch is looming for Nick Saban, Alabama

After a 1-1 start to the season, Alabama is now in the midst of a four-game winning streak after gutting out a victory over Texas A&M last week. The Crimson Tide looked like they’d be on upset alert, but pulled away to get the 26-20 victory to improve to 5-1 on the season.

Alabama is also now alone in first place in the SEC West after entering last week tied with Texas A&M for the top spot. With five conference games left, Saban is going to want his team at its best to try and get back to the SEC Championship.

That win over Texas A&M could create some much-needed momentum going forward. After this week’s game against Arkansas, Alabama will welcome Tennessee for a Third Saturday in October showdown before the bye week. From there, LSU will come to Tuscaloosa on Nov. 4 and a trip to Lexington to take on Kentucky awaits the following week.