Paul Finebaum: Nick Saban has wasted careers of two of the greatest players in Alabama history

ESPN and SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum did not take it easy on Alabama coaching legend Nick Saban after the Tide’s overtime loss to the LSU Tigers on Saturday. The radio host accused Saban of wasting the careers of quarterback Bryce Young and edge rusher Will Anderson Jr.

Although the potential first-round draft picks would almost certainly reject that claim, Finebaum’s argument holds some water when considering the rings left on the table.

“You can choose your words harshly or you can be calm and say, ‘Nick Saban will recover from this,’ but I don’t know the answer to that. I know he’s wasted the best quarterback perhaps in Alabama history, maybe one of the best defensive players, and you laid out the rest of the team, it seems a shame, quite frankly, when you look at it from an Alabama perspective, what’s happened,” Finebaum said on the Week 10 recap with Matt Barrie.

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“Nick Saban wasn’t really sure how to respond, he said I’m not second-guessing anyone, well he ought to second-guess himself,” Finebaum continued. “This has been Nick Saban’s worst coaching job at Alabama. By my count, this has been the fourth time that he’s been outcoached. Sarkisian, Texas, Jimbo Fisher outcoached him, Josh Heupel, add Brian Kelly to that list.”

Regardless of what it means for Saban, the Tide has very little time to dwell on the Week 10 loss. In just six days, they travel to Oxford for a showdown with Ole Miss, which is now one spot behind Bama in the AP Top 25 at No. 11.

Saban: ‘We have a legacy that we want to uphold’

After Alabama’s lost to LSU, 32-31, in overtime, Nick Saban had a fairly simple message for his locker room: There are still plenty of reasons to want to keep playing at the highest level.

“I told them that we all have a chance. We have a legacy that we want to uphold in terms of the pride that we have in our performance as well as, you know, what our expectations are. And I told each player that they can develop value in their stock by continuing to try to play well and improve. And we can create value as a team if we continue to do the things that we need to do to get better,” Saban said postgame. “So, there’s nobody that benefits from not getting better. There’s nobody that benefits from not playing well. Whether it’s their future that they’re concerned about or this team. And these guys care about this team.”