Nick Saban weighs in on Devin White’s controversial targeting penalty
By Keith Farner
Published:
Just about everyone around the SEC has developed an opinion on the controversial targeting call against LSU LB Devin White. But one person who typically has an opinion that carries weight around the Southeast has weighed in.
Alabama coach Nick Saban initially didn’t want to make a comment about the White hit on Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald that was flagged for targeting and will cause White to miss the first half of the Nov. 3 Alabama game.
Saban spoke Monday at the Harbet Center to the Monday Morning Quarterback Club.
“I think we’ve got lots of people who make those decisions,” Saban said, according to Bama OnLine. “It’s a player safety rule. We’ve got people in the booth who look at replays, and that’s why we do it — so they get it right. I don’t think it’s my place to make a comment on it.”
The primetime atmosphere at Tiger Stadium typically doesn’t need a boost to get going, but the White incident, followed by backlash and comments about SEC officiating and the commissioner’s office, is likely to rile up the purple and gold faithful even more.
“It’s a great stadium,” Saban said. “They’ve got great enthusiasm. Their fans really get in and love football. It’s one of the most challenging places in college football to play, and I think it’s really important when players play there, you’ve got to be able to stay focused in the game.
“You’ve got to play the next play. You can’t let the momentum and all the other factors have any effect on you. Whether you’re ahead or behind, it doesn’t really matter, you’ve got to just keep playing. And that’s going to be really important for us in this game.”
The play that got Devin White ejected for targeting and suspended for the first half of Bama vs LSU pic.twitter.com/aKnhLcD6KR
— CFB Gif’er (@CFBgifer) October 21, 2018
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
