Nick Saban on how he makes sure his players are not too fired up before games

Alabama football has one of their biggest games of the season this weekend as they prepare to face off against the Texas Longhorns. On Thursday evening, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban was gracious enough to stop by the “Hey Coach & The Nick Saban Show,” to answer questions from callers and fans. One question came from a fan who asked how he’s able to make sure his players are not too fired up before games.

Nick Saban wants his players to be process based

“I’m not worried about them being too fired up. I’m good with that. But I think, you know, competitive character, not focusing on the outcome but being able to stay focused on the process of things you need to do to get the outcome,” Saban began. “Emotion that you create in a game is not going to last for 60 minutes. I mean, it’s just not going to last for 60 minutes. You can come out and play well early in the game and kind of look for some of that. So, you really want to be playing on competitive character. Not just, emotion, because that’s what’s going to sustain. That’s what’s going to help you be able to overcome adversity in the game.”

“To play through ups and downs. To continue to try to dominate your box. And focus on the next play. Play the next play, regardless of what happened on the last play. That takes competitive character. You never want players to be frustrated when something happens in a game. Well, when you focus on outcomes…which we all grew up…aight…with outcomes. What kind of grades did you make? I mean, what did you make on the test today? How many hits did you get in the game you played in? I mean, everything that we do is outcome oriented. That’s how we all grow up,” Saban continued.

“And now, it’s worse because you’ve got the internet, so you get feedback from that. But you really want to keep people focused on what do I have to do to get the outcome. And how can I stay intentional about that. And that’s really important in not getting frustrated. Because you get frustrated because you don’t think you’re getting the results that you want. Or you think somebody else thinks you’re not getting the results that you want. So, again, all these external things are creating an emotional instability that doesn’t allow you to execute. It seems like it should be easy, but it’s not,” the Alabama head coach said.

These are all very similar sayings that we’ve heard Saban pound relentlessly into our brains over the years.

Saturday’s matchup should be an exciting one between the Longhorns and Crimson Tide.

No. 3 Alabama and No. 11 Texas are set to square off on Saturday, Sept. 9. Kick for that one is slated for 7:00 PM EST. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.