Nick Saban says spirit for rivalry vs. Tennessee comes from current challenge, not past seasons
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Nick Saban is focused on the present.
The Alabama head coach spoke Wednesday at the SEC’s weekly teleconference to discuss the Tide’s upcoming matchup against No. 17 Tennessee and what the overall rivalry means for the 2 programs.
Saban started by saying he has a “tremendous amount of respect” for Tennessee. He thinks the spirit of the rivalry comes from the No. 17 team that the Tide are playing this season, not necessarily the team that Tennessee was last season feeding a “better” matchup.
Here’s his full quote:
“We’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for Tennessee, their program and they obviously had a really good team last year, a really good team this year. So I think the spirit comes from the challenge of what you have to play against and not necessarily what happened the last several years. This is a big game for a lot of reasons for both sides relative to the SEC and all kinds of things. There’s a lot of reasons to have spirit in this game and I think our players certainly understand all those.”
The Vols and Crimson Tide kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS from Tuscaloosa this Saturday.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
