Alabama head coach Nick Saban is taking the high road this year, hoping it leads his Crimson Tide back to the College Football Playoff.
Moments after No. 8 Alabama took down previously undefeated No. 1 Georgia in the SEC championship game, Saban was on the field talking to ESPN about his team’s playoff chances.
Not only did Alabama need a win on Saturday to have any sort of shot at the national title, it needed a little luck, too. Texas’ Big 12 championship win over Oklahoma State earlier in the day complicated matters since the Longhorns have a head-to-head victory over the Tide this season in Tuscaloosa. Depending on what happens in the Big Ten and ACC championship games later on Saturday, the SEC could actually be shut out of the playoff altogether with Michigan ranked No. 2 and Florida State ranked No. 4.
But Saban wasn’t going to plead his case to the selection committee on Saturday. At least not on the field in Georgia. Asked by ESPN if his team did enough to get in, here’s what he had to say:
“Thats not really for me to say. I’m going to enjoy this win and we’ll figure it out tomorrow. We did our part. We did what we had to do to have a chance.”
Well, ok then!
That’s quite a different approach than Saban took last year when his team was 10-2 and fighting for a spot in the playoff:
“I don’t make those decisions, but I know what a resilient football team this has been. We’ve lost two games to top-10 opponents, both on the last play of the game and both on the road. We could have easily won both games but didn’t. We’re a good football team and hopefully people will recognize that and we’ll get a chance [to play in the playoff].”
Saban was still irked over the playoff committee keeping Alabama out as recently as June.
Speaking to Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt, Saban was adamant the committee got it wrong:
“All we do is take the teams that win the most games at the end of the year, put them into the playoffs. But do you really get the best teams? When they told me that we would be favored against three out of the four teams that got in the playoff, I’m like, ‘Why aren’t we in the playoffs?’ If you’re going to have parity, you have to have a better way of figuring out who has the best teams, not just because you lose two games on the last play of the game.”
That’s certainly a much harsher tone than he struck on Saturday. We’ll see if this works out better. If not, there may be some more fiery Saban quotes ahead.
