Alabama Football: Saban reviews and previews CSU game week
By Ronald Evans
Nick Saban started out the Alabama football, Colorado State game week with a review of Fresno State and a preview of the Rams.
As with every Monday presser of an Alabama football game week, Nick Saban praised an upcoming opponent.
"This is a good team, it’s going to be a challenging game for us. We need to play better on both sides of the ball."
Alabama football does not measure itself by other teams. Under the guidance of Nick Saban, Alabama football plays to an internal standard of achievement. By design, that standard is impossibly high to attain. The standard does not vary whether the opponent is FSU or Fresno or Colorado State.
Occasionally the players do not fully buy-in to playing to that standard against a weaker team. It could happen this season when the Mercer Bears come to Tuscaloosa. If it happens, Saban will in no uncertain terms, bristle, curse and demand more.
Until then or unless a loss occurs, Saban will remain optimistic about the 2017 team. He is realistically content the team is far from a finished product. He also has no patience with any media criticism.
"We’re still developing our team, aight. Our team still has a long way to go in a lot of areas."
And he has less patience if asked about specific player weaknesses. On Monday, Nick again had to respond to doubts about Jalen Hurts as a passing quarterback. Nick’s response was,
"If you want to be critical of a guy for rushing for 154 yards saying he should pass more, that’s up to you."
Nick on the Fresno State game
After stating that overall he thought the team executed better against Fresno State, Saban said,
"I think we got on our heels a little bit on defense because they did some things we weren’t prepared for."
When asked about the offensive line, Nick responded,
"There were probably seven plays that if we finish one block, that play would be significantly more successful."
Nick Saban is protective of the 2017 players, meaning outside the coaching staff, he is openly dismissive of any criticism. Over the years in Tuscaloosa, as Nick has gotten older and become a grandfather, perhaps he has mellowed.
Over the last few seasons, his comments on player leadership always state the key leadership component is helping others. Rather than talking about his team being a family, Nick Saban treats his team like a family. A recent example was the helicopter rescue of Tony Brown’s father from a flooded home near Houston. In big ways and smaller ones never publicized by the media, Nick Saban has his players’ backs. And they know it.
Coaches and Players looking out for each other
Here is an example of what transpires when coaches and players look out for each other.
After every Chick-fil-A game, the winner gets a trophy and leather football headgear. The pictures of coaches donning the old school ‘helmet’ are not flattering, to say the least.
During the FSU celebration, Bo Scarbrough began to place the leather helmet on Nick’s head. Standing on the other side of Nick was Jalen Hurts, who quickly intervened, stopping Bo before an image-damaging photo op could occur.
Check in with us later today for a practice report. The CSU game kickoff is 6:00 PM Saturday in Bryant-Denny.