The champs have arrived. Wednesday is Alabama day at SEC Media Days and as usual, head coach Nick Saban’s arrival to the event caused quite the stir:

Following a lengthy opening statement, Saban opened the floor to questions from the media in attendance. The first question asked of Saban was why the Crimson Tide have lost to Ole Miss the last two seasons. The Rebels are the only team to beat Alabama in the regular season during that time and have beaten the Tide both at home and on the road.

“Ole has had really really good teams, they’ve done a really good job against us,” Saban said to the room.

Despite a furious comeback last season, Alabama ultimately fell to the Rebels at home 43-37 after turning the ball over five times – something Saban addressed.

“I think critical things that happened in the game that affect outcome of games — we had five
turnover last year,” Saban continued. “They played on a short field and scored a lot of points. Made a couple big plays that, you know, we didn’t defend very well. Had some breakdowns in the secondary.

“I think if you’re going play well against those kinds of teams who are very prolific offensive teams and play good defense, you got to play good field position, first of all, and we’re going to have to do a better job of eliminating the big play so they don’t score so many points.”

Alabama travels to Oxford Sept. 17 this season looking to break its first ever two-game losing streak to Ole Miss – in a series that dates all the way back to 1894.