Nick Saban unhappy with team's practice, once again speaks of rat poison
Alabama is set to play Mercer on Saturday for only the second game of the 2021 season. After a 44-13 win against a top-15 Miami squad in Atlanta, the Crimson Tide will return to Bryant-Denny Stadium for its showdown against the Bears.
Under normal circumstances, this would be an exciting time for someone like Nick Saban. In some ways, I’m sure it is still exciting, but we’ve learned by now that there’s nothing normal about the longtime Alabama head coach.
Saban believes in consistency, execution and ongoing. He doesn’t believe in excuses, and he certainly doesn’t believe in what he describes as “rat poison.” He once again made that crystal clear during a mid-week press conference on Wednesday evening.
“I think several years ago, it was the sixth or seventh game of the year. We had just beat Texas A&M, and people had started talking about our team,” Saban ranted while speaking to reporters. “And I had to bring everyone’s attention to what I referred to as ‘rat poison.’
“So now, we’ve basically played one half of one game. Alright, we went ahead 27 to nothing in the game, and then it was basically 17-16 after that with two stops inside the five-yard line. So, we didn’t maintain our intensity in the game. So, we were affected by the scoreboard. So, we haven’t proven that we can play for 60 minutes.
“Then we come out on Monday and really, not ready to practice. I guess because of the respect we have for the opponent, I don’t really know all that. Or maybe it’s what they read on social media, or in the media or whatever, after one half of a game this season. And then it was hot yesterday.
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“So, we’ve got every external factor in the world that is affecting our ability to maintain intensity. And play the way we need to play, and practice the way we need to practice to improve. The scoreboard affects us, who we’re playing affects us, the heat affects us, the media and what you guys write every day affects us.
“To me, we got to prove that we can play and maintain intensity for 60 minutes in a game, execute, do our job, play hard, finish games, finish plays, do things we were supposed to do.”
We learned two things from this rant.
First, Saban isn’t happy with the way his team is preparing for the rest of the season coming off a big win. It may or may not affect the outcome of this Saturday’s game, but the correct preparation now can pay offer later — like, in The Swamp on Sept. 18, for example.
The second thing we learned from Wednesday’s rant isn’t really new. In fact, it’s a reminder: Nick Saban is the best at what he does. He’s never going to get complacent, and he’s constantly fighting to keep his players and staff from reaching complacency too.
Saban’s entire press conference from Wednesday can be viewed below.
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