TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama football held its final pre-Christmas workout on Monday and then broke for the holiday, with most of the players heading home.

The No. 1 Crimson Tide participated in a two-hour workout in full pads inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility. It was Alabama’s seven of 13 practices for Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, a national playoff semifinal on Jan. 1 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

“I think the most important thing for us right now, this is a little bit of a different kind of stretch players have to go through,” Saban said on Saturday, during his final pre-holiday press conference. “We have seven straight days of practice where you don’t ever have seven straight days of practice ever since fall camp, where you might practice that many days before you have a day off.

“The most important thing is to maintain the intensity during this time so we can continue to improve and really pay attention to detail, get a good grasp on the game plan, so when we come back after Christmas, we’re not trying to learn a bunch of new stuff. We’re just trying to get what we do know right and execute it so we can go out there and play our best.”

In a change from what the Sugar Bowl initially released, the Crimson Tide will return to Tuscaloosa on Friday, and practice twice more at home before traveling to New Orleans on Saturday afternoon.

All of Alabama’s practices in New Orleans will take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

As for the workouts, senior safety Nick Perry described them as: “Very intense.”