Nick Saban identifies the ‘strength’ of Alabama’s team entering Week 12
Published:
Nick Saban has an eye for college football, you might say, and he particularly has an eye for Alabama.
The legendary coach who led the Crimson Tide to 6 national championships is now a college football analyst for ESPN, and he knows what makes this Alabama team tick after an 8-game winning streak has the Tide primed to do big things. On the eve of Saturday afternoon’s huge showdown at home against No. 11 Oklahoma, Saban talked about the strength of the 4th-ranked Crimson Tide during his weekly Friday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
It certainly isn’t the running game, which has been feeble all fall, with Jam Miller leading Alabama in rushing with just 321 yards. Saban knows that the passing game has been Bama’s calling card during its 2-month surge, and he knows that quarterback Ty Simpson and his stable of wide receivers will be key once again against the Sooners in the 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC.
Saban was asked if he thinks Alabama can win a national title or get to a national title game with being just a 1-dimensional offense.
“Well, I think it’s hard, I really do, but if you got a good enough quarterback and good enough receivers, which that’s the strength of their team to me, Ty Simpson and the receiver core, and they make a lot of explosive plays,” Nick Saban said.
Saban still believes Alabama has “pretty decent” running backs on its roster, but the Tide just haven’t been able to establish any kind of running game this fall, whether Miller has been in the lineup or not. He also said the offensive line must improve down the stretch as that Crimson Tide passing game he complimented so much continues to try to thrive.
Here are Saban’s full comments on the issue as Bama gets ready for OU:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
