Nick Saban shares candid thoughts about his players’ favorite question: Will there be a Playoff?
By Keith Farner
Published:
It may be some internal confidence, and simply pure curiosity, but there is one question that continues to come up for Alabama players in talking with coach Nick Saban: Will there be a Playoff?
As could be expected, Saban is in favor of the College Football Playoff resuming as planned with Power 5 conferences like the SEC, Big 12 and ACC going forward with their seasons.
“In my opinion there’s going to be three conferences playing,” Saban said Monday, according to AL.com. “I think the players look forward to the playoffs. I think the players that play should have the opportunity to have a playoff and have a championship for the teams that are playing. That’s my opinion. I’m sure there are a lot of people that may or may not agree with that.
“If we’re fortunate enough to be able to manage this, with player safety being the No. 1 concern for all of us and we can go through a season and find out who the best teams are, I think there would be a lot of interest to see those teams play and I know the players would certainly look forward to playing.
“That’s one of the biggest questions our players ask us: ‘Coach, if we play, will we be able to play in the playoff? We want to have a chance to play in a championship if we have a good season.’ That’s where I sort of formulate my opinion from is what our players think.”
Those who follow college football closely will know that since the CFP began in 2014, the Big 10 and Pac 12, which have called off their seasons, have had just 6 of the 24 teams to be selected. Among the 12 teams to qualify the past 3 seasons, only Ohio State last year has come from those conferences.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
