Nick Saban compares challenges of surprise Sugar Bowl delay to handling of COVID pandemic in sports

In the immediate hours following the tragic New Year’s Day terrorist attack on Bourbon Street that resulted in 16 deaths and more than 35 injured, officials decided to push the highly-anticipated Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame back a day. But for those involved in the rescheduled College Football Playoff national quarterfinal, which was postponed to 4 pm ET Thursday inside the Caesars Superdome in downtown New Orleans, any significant change to pregame routine can have drastic ramifications.

And while it’s yet to be seen how the delayed Sugar Bowl kickoff time will ultimately affect the Bulldogs and Fighting Irish in today’s game, Nick Saban knows it falls on the respective coaches staffs to keep their players focused on the mission at hand.

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In fact, the former Alabama head coach harkened back to a message he sent to his players in March 2020 after the season was initially put in doubt due to the COVID pandemic that ravaged the world.

“It reminds me of way back when we got a call on March 13^th (2020) and we were in our first day of Spring practice and they said school’s closed, Covid’s in, season might be off, we don’t know when we’re going to play,” Saban said Thursday afternoon on The Pat McAfee Show. “In the team meeting, the first thing I said to the players was: ‘Whoever handles this disruption the best is going to have the best chance to be successful.’

“So, I don’t think anybody has any experience handling a situation like this that involves so much public safety and how are we going to make the place safe so we can play and postponing the game. But I do think that same concept works here,” Saban continued. “Whichever coaching staff can handle this disruption the best with their players, and keep them focused on what they need to do and not be concerned about when we play, what time we’re playing, it’s in the day, it’s in the night, it’s in the parking lot.

“I used to tell the players, ‘The field is 53 yards wide and 100 yards deep, so no matter where we play, that’s the way it’s going to be, and no matter when we play, that’s the way it’s going to be. So, let’s stay focused on what we’re going to do when we get inside the rectangle and see what happens.’”

McAfee knowingly asked Saban about how his approach to the 2020 COVID season ultimately worked out for Alabama. The answer drew immediate laughter.

“Yeah, we won a national championship,” Saban said. “But hey, we gave them all a scale, we gave them all an Apple watch, we knew when they were working out. We got turned into the NCAA by 52 different teams.”

That season, the Crimson Tide followed Saban’s directive to capped a perfect 12-0 season with a 52-24 win over Ohio State in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship game in Miami.