Paul Finebaum: Nick Saban is being outcoached
Alabama vs. Tennessee was the highlight of Week 7, and really the entire season so far. Tennessee came away with a 52-49 victory, and that result has had major ramifications. Following Alabama’s loss, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum wasn’t shy with his criticism towards head coach Nick Saban.
Saban is one of the greatest coaches to ever coach in any sport, and his legacy is undeniable. But in Finebaum’s eyes, Saban deserves some of the blame for Alabama’s loss. Alabama committed 17 penalties for 130 yards in the loss, both of which are highs in the Nick Saban era. The previous record? Week 2 against Texas when Alabama had 15 penalties for 100 yards.
“There’s a lot of troubling signs coming out of it for Alabama,” Finebaum said. “The troubling sign for Alabama is that Alabama does not look well-coached. Well-coached team don’t commit that many penalties. Well-coached teams don’t have moments like that where in the beginning of the game you know what’s on the line. To Alabama’s credit, yeah they came back and had the scoop-and-score. But then they also give the game away with a pass interference. I mean how many times did you say late in that game that it’s over? And it wasn’t.”
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Finebaum: This isn’t the first time Saban, Alabama have been out-coached
It was certainly a frustrating result for Alabama. The Crimson Tide battled back from a large early deficit and stayed in it until the very end. But ultimately, the mistakes were too much to overcome and Alabama has picked up its first loss. And while Saban has drawn criticism from Finebaum, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has drawn praise.
“Those last 18 seconds in the parlance of college football were about as well-executed and well-coached as I have ever seen by Josh Heupel,” Finebaum added.
Alabama has played in a lot of tight games this season. In addition to Saturday’s game against Tennessee, the Crimson Tide have played in two additional one-score games. The first was in Week 2 against Texas, where Alabama snuck away with a 20-19 victory. The other was last week against Texas A&M, where Alabama won 24-20.
A common theme in all of those games for Alabama in the eyes of Finebaum? Saban and Alabama got out-coached.
“This is at least the third time this year that I have felt that the other coach out-coached Nick Saban,” said Finebaum. “[Steve] Sarkisian, Jimbo Fisher and now Josh Heupel. And when I say Nick Saban, that’s all encompassing. Fans love to go after the coordinators. It’s always about what Bill O’Brien did wrong and what Pete Golding.
“I was looking at Twitter last night and, ‘Pete Golding this’ and ‘Pete Golding that.’ Well I’ve got breaking news for everybody watching and listening right now. Nick Saban is the de-facto defensive coordinator and don’t think he’s not. Now offensively, yeah plays can get past him even though he is the head coach. Not much, but that’s not where he specializes. He specializes in defense. So let’s cut this ‘Let’s get rid of Pete Golding.’ That’s Nick Saban’s boy. And I’m not suggesting anything in connection to Nick Saban, but let’s quit sugarcoating it. This has been a trend now for a couple years.”
Saban and Alabama dropped three spots in the latest AP Top 25 rankings, with the Crimson Tide now sitting at No. 6.