Nick Saban on Alabama against FSU: ‘Why did we play the way we played?’
By Jacob Moss
Published:
Just about everything that can be said about the Alabama Crimson Tide‘s embarrassing Week 1 loss at the hands of the Florida State Seminoles has already been said, but Nick Saban is one of the few individuals capable of offering new insights into a game that has been talked about more than any other over the past week.
The legendary former head coach of the Tide understands this team more than just about anybody else, and as such, he’s able to break things down in a way no other analyst or fan can.
Saban put this insight to work this morning on College GameDay, breaking down what went wrong for the team he led to 6 national championships in detail.
“The question everyone has is ‘why?'” Saban said. “Why did we play the way we played? It seemed like the team was going to start the game, go right down the field, and look like an Alabama team, scoring a touchdown. However, as soon as Florida State went down the field and scored a touchdown, the whole disposition of the team changed. The passion on the sideline, the enthusiasm, and then they played that way for the rest of the game.”
It was very clear to anybody watching last Saturday that the demeanor of the Tide was very different from what everybody has come to expect from the dominant teams that Saban led for so long, and that’s exactly what the legendary ball coach points out here.
The mindset and mental toughness a team possesses are just as important as anything else, and it was a massive point of emphasis for Saban when he roamed the sidelines for Alabama.
They clearly lost that against the Noles, and now Kalen DeBoer will have to figure out how to regain it moving forward.
