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Nick Saban issues new challenge to Alabama after winning SEC Championship
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Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide ended the nation’s longest winning streak on Saturday in Atlanta. The Georgia Bulldogs hadn’t lost in two years; Alabama took control of the game in the second quarter and then put the game away with a 4-minute drive in the fourth.
“Georgia’s No. 1 right? You beat the No. 1 team, what does that consider us?” quarterback Jalen Milroe asked reporters in the postgame. “We beat the best team in the nation considerably. What do y’all consider us?”
A Playoff team, perhaps. It’s likely Alabama is selected on Sunday as one of the four participants in the College Football Playoff. The Crimson Tide could go from No. 8 to well within the top four.
The Tide lost to Texas in Week 2 at home. Then they struggled through a Week 3 matchup with South Florida. Saban’s team found itself in somewhat uncharted water. They were being seriously doubted. Not in a “can they win a national title?” sort of way, but rather in a “is this thing officially done?” kind of way.
That criticism informed the rest of Alabama’s season.
Right up to the moment it hoisted another SEC championship trophy.
“One of the motivating factors for this team all year long was they wanted to prove who they were because of the criticism that they got,” Saban told reporters in the postgame news conference. “Now, this validates (them). Winning the SEC, beating Georgia, beating the No. 1 team kind of validates who they are.
Now, Saban has a new challenge.
“So, then the next challenge is how do you deal with success? That’ll be the next challenge for this team,” he said. “We should acknowledge the fact and celebrate the fact that we won the SEC Championship. That’s significant. But now, if we have an opportunity to do something else, what’s going to be our internal motivation to want to continue to be successful?”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
