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Nick Saban is just over 24 hours from a season-defining SEC Championship game against Georgia.
On Thursday night, he gave his final thoughts ahead of the game.
For Saban, the game is all about making the most of an opportunity. Alabama has the chance to propel into the CFP top-4 with a win, but they’ll have to make the most of the opportunity. He also wants his team to not let their emotions get the best of them on the field.
“I think this is all about maximizing opportunity,” Saban said on Friday. “I think it’s important in games like this to be able to turn your passion into execution. You don’t want to be so emotional you can’t make good choices and decisions. You can’t play with discipline, you can’t execute and do your job.”
At the same time, he wants his players — and those around the Alabama program — to have confidence heading into the game.
“But you gotta have confidence, you gotta believe in yourself, so that you can go play your best, your well prepared, you understand before you ever get there what you have to do,” Saban said. “If your fans and the people out there can do anything to help us do that, that’s what we need.”
The message Saban has been preaching since last Saturday’s win in the Iron Bowl has been simple. The team has 6 days to prepare and leave everything out on the field. After that, they would be getting a long break, win or lose.
“These guys have worked hard all year,” Saban said. “I told them on Monday, you’ve got 6 days. We need 6 days for you to get through. Don’t think about how you feel, because you’re gonna be able to recover for a couple of weeks after that regardless of what happens after this game.”
