Nick Saban: The team that plays the best always wins Iron Bowl

There were plenty of stressful moments for Alabama head coach Nick Saban on Saturday. The Iron Bowl was close this year, with Alabama needing a long touchdown pass in the final minute of the game to take the lead against Auburn.

That was enough to win the game and Saban said after the game that the team that plays the best wins the Iron Bowl.

“I feel good,” Nick Saban said. “We’ve had some tough ones, but, still, the team that played the best always wins this game.”

Saban knows that Alabama didn’t play as clean a game as it could have. Even immediately before the game-winning touchdown pass, Alabama had a bad snap and a penalty for an illegal forward pass that put the Crimson Tide in a tough spot. Still, Alabama was able to overcome issues like that.

“And we played well, but we had to overcome ourselves because of penalties and things like that, a missed field goal, not playing great on defense, but I can’t tell you how proud I am of the guys and how good I feel about winning the game,” Saban said.

“But, as a coach, you always look at things like ‘how did you play?’ because we’re going to have to play on a higher level on a more consistent basis if we’re going to have success in the future and that’s what you’re always evaluating. That’s the reality check that we all have to make.”

Nick Saban does know that Alabama needs to play a more consistent game next week in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia. With a win, the Crimson Tide will be in a good position to make the College Football Playoff.

Nick Saban jokes about Alabama finally catching a break at Jordan-Hare Stadium

The touchdown pass from Jalen Milroe to Isaiah Bond is going to go down in Iron Bowl history. It was a play that came on the 10-year anniversary of the Kick Six and led to Nick Saban joking about finally catching a break at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“It’s a great throw by Jalen and a great catch by Isaiah. I mean, we work on it, but, you know, you’re throwing up for grabs, really, and we came down with it,” Saban told CBS’ Jenny Dell. “You know, there’s been some weird stuff happened here. And this is the first time I remember going in our favor.”

With the win, Nick Saban moved to 5-4 all-time in Jordan-Hare as the head coach at Alabama.