Why Nick Saban, rest of Alabama staff deserve credit for one of best coaching jobs this season
Set aside the Alabama playoff discussion. That toothpaste is out of the tube. The Crimson Tide will face Michigan in the College Football Playoff Semifinals, and nothing is going to change that now.
But before we move forward and spend the next month breaking down what should be an epic Rose Bowl, let us pause and garner the GOAT with a little praise.
This has been among the best coaching jobs of Nick Saban’s career. And his current staff’s, too.
The Crimson Tide upset No. 1 Georgia 27-24 in the SEC Championship in a game where they were out-gained and held to a season-low in total yards. They were worse on third down and fell behind 7-0 within minutes.
Yet, as has been the case since the loss to Texas in Week 2, this Alabama team — flawed and all and one not nearly as good as most all teams in Saban’s past — displayed an impressive resiliency and an ability to adjust on the fly.
The second halves against Texas A&M and Tennessee. The heroics at Auburn. And Saturday against the Dawgs.
After the opening series, Alabama forced Georgia to play its game. The Tide drug the Bulldogs into the mud for a slow, mucky fight. The Bulldogs marched down the field on eight plays for 85 yards and a touchdown to open the game, but Saban didn’t panic.
He quickly called an audible that proceeded to totally gummy-up UGA’s explosive offense for much of the next three quarters with defensive adjustment.
Alabama opened the game in a bear front (five-down lineman) and UGA was forcing the Tide’s best pass rusher Dallas Turner into a stand-up role as a wide-side defender. Saban quickly got on the headset and told DC Kevin Steele they needed to switch to a four-down line with split safeties.
The pass rush would get there, Saban believed, and Alabama would no longer be exposed in one-high looks wasting its best rusher.
He was right.
Georgia played right into Alabama’s hands for the rest of the half, with Mike Bobo (uncharacteristically, strangely, stupidly?) switching to a run-heavy attack that resulted in zero points. Alabama scored a couple of touchdowns in the second quarter, and it proved to be enough to engineer the upset.
Don’t let anyone tell you Saban has lost his fastball. The man’s still got it.
After the win, Saban joked about how “tired” he was following such a challenging season. Yet the game’s best coach seems to truly enjoy coaching this 2023 Alabama team.
Sure, they’re probably his worst team in 15 years, but they work. They grind. They aim to get better. And they’re clutch, too.
Why this is one of Nick Saban’s best coaching jobs of his career
The Crimson Tide entered the year having to replace Bryce Young, Will Anderson and Jahmyr Gibbs — their top 3 players from the 2022 team. They also lost both coordinators and opened the season with a dispiriting Week 2 showing at home against Texas. A QB controversy lingered for weeks.
And yet the drama didn’t derail Alabama’s entire year.
Saban and his staff managed to steady the ship, and he witnessed first-hand the growth and development of guys like Jalen Milroe, the offensive line, Terrion Arnold, Isaiah Bond and others. Tommy Rees got better as a play-caller. Eric Wolford finally got more out of an offensive line full of 5-stars. And the defensive staff — one in which Lane Kiffin made the accusation early in the season that Kevin Steele wasn’t actually calling the plays! — assembled one of the best units in the nation around edge rushers Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell and a secondary featuring Kool-Aid McKinstry, Caleb Downs, Malachi Moore and Arnold.
None of these progressions were linear, either. Alabama has had up-and-down moments all season. Hell, the Tide needed a miracle to beat a struggling Auburn team just two weeks ago.
But talent can overcome. And talent + excellent coaching can really do scary things — like upset the top-ranked team and winners of 29 straight games.
As the season matriculated, Saban & Co., figured out how to get the most out of Milroe. They patiently waited on a WR1 to emerge and both Bond and Jermaine Burton proved capable. They leaned on Turner and a deep and talented secondary.
Saban spent all offseason using a cake metaphor about Alabama’s QB competition, but he might as well have been speaking about the entire team.
The cake came out of the oven Saturday, and all the aforementioned pieces came through to narrowly beat Georgia.
Milroe nearly threw a couple of interceptions, but didn’t. He didn’t have a single turnover in the game, and when Alabama needed him most, the quarterback delivered huge plays with this legs and improvisational skills (the Maholmes-esque flick to Bond on a pivotal third down). Arnold and the rest of the secondary was awesome, and Saban’s staff devised and implemented a game plan that was just good enough.
“I think besides that (2015) team, this team is the most improved group that we’ve ever had in terms of their passion, the fun that they have, the practice, focusing on trying to improve. I mean, this team has gone through a total transition as a football team,” Nick Saban said last week before beating Georgia.
After the upset Saturday, he said, “I think our coaches did a fantastic job with these players. Fantastic job of helping guys develop and improve. I really appreciate our staff of people who contributed to the success of this team. It’s not about me. It’s about everybody on the team who contributed to the success of this team: players and coaches alike.”
The Tide may no longer be in Death Star mode. Their margin for error has shrunk. But as long as Nick Saban is the head coach in Tuscaloosa, Alabama will remain a Goliath in the sport. He’s the GOAT for a reason.
He doesn’t just have Kirby Smart’s number. He has everybody’s number. And yet Saturday’s win was special.
This group, warts and all, found a way to win a SEC title — Saban’s 11th by the way — which is why afterward the Tide’s coach flashed a giant smile and said his only message to the locker room was “Celebrate.”