Nick Saban: Michigan's lack of College Football Playoff hype is 'a good thing for' defending champions
Michigan beat Nick Saban in the College Football Playoff in what was eventually his final game. That was before finishing last season as undefeated national champions. Now, with much smaller expectations to this point of this year, he thinks that it’s a positive for the Wolverines.
Saban spoke about the lack of discussion about the defending champions during an appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday from Ann Arbor. In his opinion, that’s great for the maize & blue as they need to be focused on the present anyway rather than what they or anyone else consider about their future for the end of a season that just began.
“Yeah, I think absolutely (it’s a good spot),” said Saban. “I think, really, some of the issues for some of these teams is going to be how do you manage those expectations, aspirations, whatever. Their goal is to get in the playoff, which is really not a goal. It’s an outcome. There’s a difference in those two things, alright. So you should be focused on who do you play next? Like we say, play one play at a time, don’t look at the scoreboard. Now we’re talking about something that’s going to happen in December in September when you should be focusing on how do we play the next game. What do we have to do to get better? What do we have to do to finish this game, beat this team, not turn the ball over?”
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As Saban would put it, there’s no rat poison out there right now to hurt Michigan. That’s good as it’ll keep their minds where they need to be at the current time.
“They have less (rat poison). That’s why I think it’s a good thing for them,” said Saban.
“All these teams that we created all this expectation on – like, these teams are going to get in the playoff? That’s the rat poison. That’s what takes your focus away from who are we playing this week? What do I got to do this week, who am I lined up against?” Saban said. “Are you thinking about that or are you thinking about what’s going to happen in the playoffs?”
Michigan is still among the better teams in the entire country. Still, with what all they lost from last year’s title roster, many just don’t see the Wolverines among the very best whether in their own conference or nationally.
With that said, Michigan will be just fine from that spot according to Saban. It’ll better help them to do what they need to do to be where some people doubt they will by the time of the field selection at regular season’s end.
“You’ve got to focus on what’s in front of you,” Saban said. “You can’t worry about what’s going to happen in December. You’ve got to worry about what do I have to do to get there so we have a chance in December.”