Alabama Football: Five reasons the Crimson Tide beats Clemson

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Reason No. 1 – Nick’s Impressive Record in Bounce-back games

Nick Saban has often said he hates losing more than he loves winning. And he means hates, not just dislikes. He admitted to watching the tape of last year’s Clemson game more often than he wanted to. No doubt he hated almost every second of the review, particularly the last ones. But he did it because the hatred for losing brings out an obsessive response from Nick Saban.

Using Nick’s 2017 mantra, the only assurance against not wasting a failure is work. Hard, determined, focused effort with no shortcuts is necessary to come back from a loss. Bouncing back from a tough loss is what Nick Saban teams do, perhaps better than anyone else.

ESPN’s Chris Lowe had a great line earlier this week. Lowe said,

"The monster Nick Saban has created at Alabama is a championship-or-bust mentality, which is a dizzying standard."

Chris could have also said the standard is a burden few teams and players could bear. The Alabama football team and its players bear that burden because Nick Saban bears it first and foremost.

Losses almost never follow losses for Alabama football and rarely does a team beat Alabama two years in a row. Thanks to Chris Hummer of Bama Online for these stats.

"Alabama is nearly unbeatable following a loss or facing a team it fell to in a previous meeting. In terms of the former, the Tide are 10-1 since the 2009 season. In terms of the latter, better known as the revenge games, Alabama is 10-2 overall in Saban’s tenure when facing such an opponent in the same year or the next."