DALLAS — A major problem of realignment is the loss of old rivalries and the time it takes to build new ones, as Texas A&M has found since bolting the Big 12, though its tradition with Texas presumably resumes once the Longhorns join the SEC in a year or three.
Until then, it looks like Alabama will do.
Nick Saban ramped up the rivalry to red alert when he told a group of Birmingham business leaders that the Aggies “bought every player on their team” under the guise of name, image and likeness. Jimbo Fisher, who worked for Saban at LSU, responded Thursday morning by calling his old boss a “narcissist,” which might have been the nicest thing he said.
Bottom line: On your “must-watch TV” list this fall, circle Oct. 8, which is when A&M visits Tuscaloosa.
Tune in early, too, to see what happens if Saban and Jimbo pick up where they left off this week.
Or as Jimbo put it Thursday, “I don’t mind confrontation.”
Could I suggest a wrestling ring at midfield?
Jimbo, going top rope?
On a radio show Thursday, Saban apologized, in a Saban sort of way, by saying he shouldn’t have singled anyone out.
Especially if that certain someone was the only coach with a better recruiting class this year, according to 247Sports Composite.
Of course, this enmity with Saban has simmered since last year, when Jimbo told the Houston Touchdown Club that the Aggies would “whip his ass.” A&M did just that, beating the previously undefeated Crimson Tide, 41-38, in College Station.
Since then, Saban has made cryptic comments about A&M’s No. 1-ranked class, resulting in an indignant response from Jimbo, who got even more animated Thursday.
My personal favorite: Commenting on the “disgusting” atmosphere permeating college football these days, Jimbo said, “Especially about the people throwing darts, having no glass in their house.”
He apparently meant stones, not darts, but never mind.
He was rolling.
Claiming the Aggies broke no rules, Jimbo said he doesn’t lie, because that’s the way he was raised. Back then, you got slapped upside the head for lying. Jimbo then implied that Saban might have benefited from similar parenting.
“Maybe somebody should have slapped him,” he said.
You could say Greg Sankey was not as amused as the rest of us. Thursday, the SEC commissioner reprimanded both coaches, basically harrumphing this was no way to behave in the war room.
No question, it was out of character for Saban or anyone else to even hint that a fellow SEC coach would do anything untoward. I mean, this isn’t the SWC, which cannibalized itself. Cooler heads among SEC members have long adhered to a policy of live-and-let-live.
As long as Vanderbilt doesn’t start winning in football, too.
Otherwise, if Saban really does have the goods on A&M and wants to go to the mat, let’s see some evidence. The NCAA might be interested. If the NCAA still existed, that is.
