Nick Saban: Tide weren't interested in playing Utah
by JazzyUte on Apr 20, 2009 8:14 PM MDT
in Sugar Bowl
Email
PrintGraham Watson actually comes to Utah's defense and swats down this bogus excuse put out by Alabama head coach Nick Saban months after the Utes waxed his Tide in the Sugar Bowl.
"There's very little interest from our fans, our players or anybody else to play in the Sugar Bowl, which to me is a tremendous opportunity," Saban said. "I tried to tell everyone, you're only going to remember one thing about this game and that's the outcome. So there's no interest, there's no passion and everybody is embarrassed because of how we played. Well, it's because you didn't have any passion for it, you didn't have any interest in it, you didn't have any enthusiasm to do it, and that's across the board. And that's not right. We go to a BCS bowl game, everybody ought to be positive and enthusiastic about what we're doing."
I actually thought Nick Saban, after his only real undefeated team remark, handled himself pretty well in the wake of Utah's victory, but why do this now? Why come out and state your team had no interest playing in the Sugar Bowl, as if it was a huge step down from where the Tide have been the past fifteen years?
What this sounds like is Saban still hasn't gotten over the beating and is still trying to excuse it away. But instead of just admitting that maybe his team lost to a really good Utah squad, he actually undermines his own coaching ability by implying he failed to motivate his team prior to a huge game. Isn't that why Alabama pays him more money than any coach in college football? Or did he forget that little detail?
With all that said, I believe the second those players took the field, they were just as fired up as Utah, especially since 70-percent of the stadium was filled with partisan 'Bama fans. If that can't get the adrenaline flowing, then you're playing the wrong sport.
27 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
i'm not really sure what Saban is making excuses for...
The only two teams Bama lost to were the #1 and #2 teams in the final rankings. I would say that’s pretty good.
Not an excuse
I seriously doubt he is making an excuse here; rather, he’s stating his repeated themes that fans need to have reasonable expectations and they have to support the team whole heartedly. That the team doesn’t get to have emotional letdowns. The point he made here is that people will remember the outcome. Well, he was right wasn’t he? And he has bludgeoned the team and fans for this ever since.
Saying the team did not want to be there is not making an excuse, it’s an indictment against the ethic and attitude of his team and fans. He wants them both to hunger for every game, not to sit back and say “meh, sugar bowl, not the NC game so who cares.” As he also notes, he thought it was a fantastic opportunity, and it was. Afte rthe game his team said they underestimated Utah and took them lightly, that’s precisely what he is preaching about here: he’s saying “we did the wrong thing, we can’t do that anymore.”
Ask the ‘Bama fans, they think he’s righteously pissed off about the outcome and not making excuses so much as chewing out anyone who holds still for it.
Last year was an anomaly for Alabama, expected to be middling good—improved for sure from the previous year—they went far beyond that and were ranked number 1. This created a feeling among some fans, and Saban I believe thinks the team as well, that teh Alabama Tradition equates ot an entitlement and work can take a back seat to “simply being Alabama” as it were.
Saban does not believe in entitlements, he believes in work.
That’s my take anyway.
It's the same . . .
Type of motivation Meyer used this year at Florida. Those guys were so jacked all outta shape for Georgia because they had it drilled into their heads all year “Geogia beat your ass . . . .” They had teh guys doing a rep at every staion for every point Georgia scored on them, had the score taped on their lockers, etc.
Saban is building a mindset there, he’s using this as an exhibit, that’s smart coaching.
Heck, Utah fans should look at it this way:
We are the motivating factor behind Alabama football this year. It’s a damned compliment I think. Roll Tide I say!
I think you’re being overly sensitive here.
This is how Saban operates. Alabama doesn’t pay him “more money than any coach in college football” to never make a mistake or never fail to accomplish something. He’s paid “more money than any coach in college football” because those mistakes and failures are few and far between and because he’s a master at identifying them and fixing them.
There’s a huge difference between what Saban said and an excuse. The key part that you’re missing is “We lost because…”, which Saban never said or even implied. He was talking about dedication and passion, two things that were visibly and notably absent from the fanbase and team leading up to that game.
Saban never says or implies that this is the reason Alabama lost. The point he’s making is that it was a squandered opportunity — and it was. Every quoted word is 100% true.
they think he’s righteously pissed off about the outcome and not making excuses so much as chewing out anyone who holds still for it.
This is the correct way to analyze the above quote. Seeing insults where there are none reeks of insecurity. Utah is a good football team — there’s no need to get all defensive every time someone mentions them without heaping unreserved praise on them.
Agreed, however . . .
There is a great deal of “sure it’s a win but only with an asterisk” talk on the ’Bama boards as well.
It’s tough becuase so many fans say “Hey, they beat us, period” yet so many do make excuses and only after rationalizing away the game say “oh, and Utah was a good team.” Utah’s an afterthought, if ’Bama was? You guys would be up in arms about it, likely with as thin or thinner skin than is shown here. If Auburn was making excuses for a loss? You guys would rip them for a decade about it.
Just sayin’
;-)
From what I’ve seen, Utah fans have done far more talk about this “asterisk” than Alabama fans did. Most of the comments from Tide fans I saw I read to be some variation of the following: “It’s a damn shame X, Y, and Z happened, because Alabama just didn’t play like we were used to seeing them play all season.” A small percentage (at least in the communities worth paying any attention to) then added a comment to the effect that Utah wouldn’t have beaten a committed, full-strength Alabama team. That’s not the same as saying the game deserves an asterisk.
Two facts here: first, for a variety of reasons, the Alabama team that took the field in New Orleans was not the same one that suited up in Atlanta several weeks earlier. There’s really no debating this point. Second, we have literally no way of knowing if the team that played Florida would’ve beaten Utah. Some people think they would, some people think they wouldn’t. Bottom line: it doesn’t matter. Utah got the win.
Sitting around deconstructing every comment made by an Alabama partisan about the Sugar Bowl is silly, and makes it look like even the person doing it questions whether Utah was a better football team than Alabama on any day other than the one on which the game was played — A fact that is wholly irrelevant to everything but personal pride, something you shouldn’t pin on the opinions of an opponents fans anyhow.
As for the relative thickness of skins, I’m not sure your Auburn example is a good one. The nature of that rivalry means everything gets brought up and criticized basically forever. A better comparison would be the reaction of (sane) Alabama fans had the game gone the other way and Utah fans were running around talking about how Alabama wouldn’t have beaten the Utah team that played earlier in the season . . . and I can assure you that that reaction would be almost entirely laughter and mockery. We can be an arrogant bunch sometimes.
Oh I agree
Hence my point: “it’s tough”.
It is hard to say, some make excuses, some admit a loss is a loss and let’s focus and move forward. It isn’t all one way or the other.
Part of the dialogue should consider that when a team is a 10-14 point favorite, people will go through many more motions to dissect and understand how the upset occurred, regardless of their bias and motivations.
One of the points SEC fans have made this last year was that the SEC had something of an off year, that begs many questions itself such as how the media which hypes college football handles itself and bears responsibility for over and under selling the “product” brands.
I’d love to have been a fly on the wall of the OU locker room after Boise State beat OK.
I’m not sure the sugar bowl was an example of that. You need look no further than the fact that ’Bama’s game against the national champions was closer in almost every way than the Utah game was. Even the Sugar Bowl was a pretty close game after the first five minutes.
Whatever you might say about the rest of the SEC, I think it’s clear that Alabama, Florida, and maybe Ole Miss were legit.
Of course, you can’t have it both ways. Utah was either one of the best teams in the country last year and proved it by beating a great Alabama team, or Alabama was the product of a misguided hype machine and, therefore, Utah ended the season undefeated but lacking any signature wins, leaving open the question of exactly how good they were.
Utah fans, then, should really be banging the SEC drum for the next few years. ;)
by PeteHoliday on Apr 21, 2009 11:30 AM MDT up reply actions
See, that was the
The nexx point I was going to make. If Utah fans say “they weren’t that good” then what did we achieve?
I know I’m beating the ’Bama drum, good fans,good coach, great tradition, and great exposure for us.
If we only got that, isn’t that a huge win for us?
Utah as a state suffers form a slight insecurity, feeling somewhat marginalized by its association with the LDS, being isolated and in a dessert, it really is a great place but they have this emotional need for recognition. They don’t understand that this is how a team gets built and it doesn’t happen overnight. Also, we’ve never been a football school, if this is the pinnacle of our success?
Be happy with it I say.
haha, wow.
Maybe Utah’s insecurity arises from the fact that we’re watching people make excuses for our victories. See, this is your problem, MeanBobMean, you’re suggesting we should just take our place at the back of the bus and enjoy the ride. I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree when Utah is slighted because it doesn’t play in a BCS Conference. I don’t agree when Utah can go 13-0 and still finish behind 3 teams with losses in the Coaches Poll.
I don’t think that’s insecurity at all and I think most fans would agree with me.
Look, Alabama is always going to be Alabama. Regardless of how many poor seasons they have or how many coaches fail there, it’s still ’Bama. Utah, though, never gets that benefit of the doubt. If Whittingham had badly stumbled after taking the program over in 2004, the Utes would have fallen off the college football map. We would have been Tulane post-Bowden. A program that had a great season and nothing else.
That’s what faces a program like Utah and Boise State and even BYU now every single season. They don’t have the luxury of sitting dormant for a decade or two, only to turn it on at any point. Then when they actually have a great season, people still question what they accomplished and whether they deserve to really be in the national championship picture.
Then you hear, as we’ve heard year after year, how the other team just wasn’t that into the game as Utah. Suddenly, Utah’s great season is being torn down by anyone who can get their hands on it.
Sure, you’ll probably tell me to get over it and ignore the media elites who think the Utah story is cute, but nothing more. But it pisses me off knowing last season was the best and school history and the only thing we have to show for it is a Sugar Bowl trophy and a #2 ranking. Not bad by any means, but it’s still not what we all want. It’s still not that national championship and it never will be with the type of mindset you and Peter Holiday are pushing here today.
Why? Because if we don’t complain about the slighting, if we don’t bitch about the BCS and if we don’t stomp our feet to draw attention, then no one is going to even take a look at Utah and when the Utes go undefeated again and are slighted again, I’ll do the exact same thing.
Because maybe it’ll change the mindset that has gripped college football.
I don't mind . . .
a little change in the mindset, but I think Saban is different than BCS group think.
I also know, from watching both warm up, that our team was jacked outta shape and they were not. It isn’t an excuse if it is simply what happened, I mean, I don’t think he’s excusing as much as stating a fact, one which he wants to guard against.
I think Pete is slightly wrong about the asterisk approach, I think most of college ball adds an asterisk to Utah’s defeat of ‘Bama because we aren’t a traditional power and frankly, they don’t want us to be one because that means revenue sharing.
I wouldn't call it overy sensitive.
Let’s be honest here, if Saban wasn’t implying anything, he wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.
Here’s the quote again:
“There’s very little interest from our fans, our players or anybody else to play in the Sugar Bowl, which to me is a tremendous opportunity,” Saban said. “I tried to tell everyone, you’re only going to remember one thing about this game and that’s the outcome. So there’s no interest, there’s no passion and everybody is embarrassed because of how we played. Well, it’s because you didn’t have any passion for it, you didn’t have any interest in it, you didn’t have any enthusiasm to do it, and that’s across the board. And that’s not right. We go to a BCS bowl game, everybody ought to be positive and enthusiastic about what we’re doing.”
There was little interest from his players and fans. Which led to no passion and now they’re embarrassed because of how they played. He’s saying you didn’t play that way because the team didn’t have passion for it or didn’t have interest in it. So why didn’t they have passion and interest?
Because it was Utah? Because it was the Sugar Bowl?
So in other words, Saban is saying the Tide had zero passion and zero interest in playing Utah and that’s why they came out and played as poorly as they did and were embarrassed.
Those are his words. The quote is there and I’m sure Saban is pissed, because I’d be pissed too if my team lost. But to suggest the only reason they lost was because of lack of passion, or in Saban’s words, enthusiasm, undercuts what Utah did.
Yeah but he didn't bring it up as an excuse.
He is just trying to fix the mentality that a lot of people have here. If he were making an excuse, he would have said it awhile ago, not now when the game has been long over.
36-0
But to suggest the only reason they lost was because of lack of passion, or in Saban’s words, enthusiasm, undercuts what Utah did.
But he didn’t do that. Not even a little bit. Not at all.
You ought to familiarize yourself with the concept that a team can play hard, have passion, be dedicated, and work its ass off [em]and still lose the game[/em]. In those situations all you can say is that you got beaten by a better team. You can’t be too disappointed, you can’t be mad, all you can do is chalk it up to your best effort not being good enough.
So, yes, if someone says “Alabama didn’t play their best football” and you immediately take offense because that “undercuts what Utah did”, there’s almost nothing else to call that [em]but[/em] being overly sensitive.
and an important point utah fans might not take fully into account...
…is the let-down in the alabama fanbase following the SEC championship loss. we had gone undefeated to that point and the possibility of playing for the MNC was lost in the last quarter of play. it was a HUGE emotional letdown long before we had any idea who we would be playing or what bowl we would be playing them in. so when saban says “There’s very little interest from our fans, our players or anybody else to play in the Sugar Bowl” it is from this perspective not from a point of view that utah was an undeserving opponent.
utah’s record, their performance on the field in january and the number of players selected in the nfl draft are all very real testaments to the quality of the team. i don’t believe any reasonable alabama fan disputes this. but we clearly fell short of our goals at the end of last season. infering that our efforts to address them is some kind of affront to your team is clearly misguided.
But Jazzy Buddy . ..
As he says to him it was a tremendous opportunity. He is saying “they screwed up, I knew better.”
Oh another point. . .
If you were not at the game you might have missed this, but before the kickoff I pointed out the difference between our warmups and theirs to Alabama and Utah fans both and said two things:
1) “Our team is fired up, is that how you guys always look pre-game, kind of not fired up?” Because when they came out, they weren’t up for it. I was near them, you could see it, whereas in the pregame drills Utah looked fast, sharp and hungry. Utah’s team locking arms on the far side and swaying back and forth, you could simply see how intense they were across teh entire field. The ‘Ba,a players really did not even run out as a group much ot my eye, they seemed ot lolly gag out to the sideline. I said "We have a chance in this game, we’re pumped. We showed up." Before the game.
2) I asked if it was true that ’Bama players had a late curfew? It seems it was, and I told the ’Bama fans that this—true or not—had become a sore point with the Utah men and the team felt disrespected and was pissed off and had something to prove. Alabama fans who did not know that said “I hope they did not do that, that would be stupid.”
I met Defensive Coordinator Kalani Sitake in the elevator at the Hotel, he was telling asst. Coaches and managers to get the players in their rooms by like 8:00 and lights out by 9:00. He was uhhh . .. sincere about it. I couldn’t resist and said “Coach, how realistic an expectation is that?”
He wheeled and was clearly wondering who the hell would question him, he was soooo intense. He stared in my eyes, pointed his finger and hissed “Guaranteed.” That was the attitude I think Saban is saying they should have brought.
I don’t think they’d have won regardless of who played and who did not, they did not bring it, Saban knows it, and I don’t think he likes it.
This is why Utah will never garner any type of national respect.
It’s that type of mentality that suggests Utah can’t hang with the big boys and the only they can is if the big boys do not bring it.
Well if Alabama didn’t bring it, then Utah’s win is hollow and that’s what I’ve heard countless times since the Sugar Bowl victory. It’s annoying and something I do not buy.
I really believe Utah was the better team.
Regardless if Alabama brought it or not.
I really believe Utah was the better team.
And you’re certainly entitled to that opinion, and nobody is here arguing that point against you. But the fact of the matter is that Alabama was not the same team — either in attitude or personnel — as the one that took the field against Georgia, Florida, or Clemson.
The problem with your whole line of thinking here is that it’s based on a logical fallacy: If Alabama didn’t play their best and lost the game; then they’d necessarily have had to win the game if they did play their best game.
That’s just not reality. That’s you putting words in people’s mouths because you’re insecure about your team.
If I were a Utah fan, I’d be pissed. Not because Alabama fans have said Alabama didn’t play their best football (which is an empirical fact, actually) but because I would think that my team could beat ‘Bama even if they played the best game of the season, and the fact that they came out flat and down an All-American meant that my team wasn’t able to prove just how much better we were.
So, to re-emphasize the point that you haven’t been able to pick up in 3 months: Alabama didn’t play their best football. That fact doesn’t mean that Utah would have lost if they did.
Utah was
The better team. No question. That’s due to the way Alabama showed up as well as I think the fact we’d played together more as a team, were more cohesive all year long.
Coaching was better that night as well. Game plan and preparation were superior, hard to argue against that. Alabama has greater potential now and then, but at the time they played there was no comparison. Utah had too many experienced, fast, strong players, more depth and again: cohesion as a unit, so important in football, and making them . . . the better “Team”. That’s OK, we don’t need to be Alabama, or dominate anything, we were happy to be there and show what a fine team we had in 2008.
That loss will hang over ’bama’s head till they whip us in return. That is what Saban was talking about. When you do whip us Pete? I’ll say “fairly beaten.” But Saban wants to banish complacency, can you blame him?
He’s, I think, a great college coach.
Also Pete, what do you think about this, you keep saying all the Utah fans this and that, one thing I’d point out is that a great many non Utah fans but college football heads are tossing this crap around because of their ire at the BCS, that doesn’t make them Utah fans, it makes them anti BCS types.
You think that’s accurate?
Isn't this the biggest indictment of the BCS yet?
Utah was the better team in the Sugar Bowl. I was there. Before the game Utah was pumped up ready to take on the world and Alabama was ready for a casual outing. 21 points latter Alabama was in shock and Utah was firing on all cylinders. Alabama made a game of it before Utah closed the door in the third quarter.
If Alabama and their fans can’t be excited to participate in the Sugar Bowl, a team that was not projected to even be in a BCS bowl to start the season, isn’t that the best argument to get rid of the current system?
Why play games that teams are not excited to play?
If motivation is not the issue then Utah really is that much better than Alabama and teh MWC is every bit of an automatic qualifying conference.
So either we need a postseason structure the players are excited about or Utah and the MWC deserve the BCS consideration they propose.
On Motivation . . .
If I were coach Whit, this whole idea of no respect and you have to take care of each other because they (BCS and Media) don’t love you and play hard with a chip on your shoulder, I’d use that this season.
"Only Real Undefeated Team"
Aside from the body of the article, I take issue with your paraphrase of Coach Saban’s remark.
“Only real undefeated team.” Who said that? It wasn’t Nick Saban. Saban said Alabama was the only team from a BCS conference with an undefeated regular season, which was 100% true. The comment wasn’t in the context of Utah in any case. He was reflecting on his team’s accomplishments after a heart wrenching SEC championship game loss. I don’t believe the bowl games had even been announced at that time. Saban makes a policy of only talking about other teams in positive coach-speak terms. (Ex. This week he said Miss. State would be "very competitive this year.) He’s never taken shots at other teams.
Utah played great. They had a magical season. They should be credited for being motivated for their big game. But why are you trying to manufacture motivation and outrage? It makes the program like an insecure upstart rather than a powerhouse.
In all honesty...
People make mistakes and the biggest mistake WE as Alabama fans made last season was to underestimate and undermine Utah’s ability.
We feared it would turnout to be another Hawaii-Georgia (we being Georgia) repeat, or at least I did, but it did in fact teach us a lesson never to underestimate or undermine any opponent, considering the Louisiana-Monroe game in 2007 didn’t do it for us.
Make no mistake about it Utah fans, you guys CLEARLY WERE the best team on that field in terms of all aspects (coaching, talent, etc). There was no shock value to it. If Alabama was the better team we would have played like it.
It’s been quite some time since Alabama was obliterated in the fashion of which you guys done so, at least that I can recall. I praise you guys for that and regardless as to what anybody says, you guys clobbered an SEC powerhouse and that’s something nobody can excuse.
With such an impressive victory over a quality SEC opponent, and two undefeated seasons over a four year period, you guys are on the right track and I wish Utah all the best!
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
- Urban Meyer
"Wow. Wow. Wow."
- Daryl Johnston after Utah took a 21-0 lead on Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
