TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nick Saban has always been enamored with the traditions of college football.
However, with the introduction of the College Football Playoff, Saban has been adamant that the new championship system has rendered the current 43 bowl games obsolete, noting fans and programs are more focused on making the playoffs rather than just being happy with making it to a bowl game.
“For a long time … I really wasn’t for the playoffs,” Saban said. “When we started the four-team playoff I was one of the first to say, this is a good thing, but it’s going to diminish the importance of bowl games. So what has happened now? If you’re not in playoffs, half your team doesn’t want to play in the ballgame.
“Anybody’s got a chance to go out for the draft, anybody that was thinking about transferring or whatever and now you got name image and likeness, maybe you ought to get in the portal and see how much money you get from some other team. There’s all these dynamics that are created that ballgames sort of the importance got diminished.”
As a result, Saban is now advocating for a larger playoff pool which he in term can help reinvigorate interest in all bowls but especially in the Suger Bowl and Orange Bowl.
Conveniently, Alabama is projected to play in one of these bowls and not partake in the College Football Playoff, after losing two SEC contests during the regular season. If the expanded 12-team playoff format was in effect this season, Alabama would be primed for a rematch against Tennessee.
While the matchup sparked a lot of interest after the Volunteers kicked a game-winning field goal to knock off Alabama, it would be the second-consecutive season the team would have a chance at redemption in the playoffs.
“I don’t mind doing that,” Saban said when asked about his thoughts on facing a team he’s already played in the regular season in the playoffs. “I was in the NFL for eight years and we played everybody in our division twice. One year we played the Pittsburgh Steelers three times we lost him to him twice in the regular season and we lost to them in the playoffs. We lost five games that year, and we lost three times to the Steelers so I know about playing the same team twice. That wouldn’t be the reason for it. It would probably happen some but that would be okay. I don’t think that’s a problem.”
During last week’s appearance, Saban noted that the expectations at Alabama haven’t helped motivate this year’s team. In fact, it wound up causing the team so much anxiety that the players would, “sometimes make poor choices and decisions.”
In both losses, Saban circled the anxiety to live up to the team’s storied past as one of the culprits to his first two-loss season since 2019. The team’s inconsistent play has also caught the ire of former players who spoke out on social media and during interviews to share their disappointment.
Former Alabama running back Bo Scarborough was the latest to jump on the bandwagon, as he visited the team in Tuscaloosa this week.
“I don’t want any former player coming to me saying, ‘You guys are not what they expect you to be,’ because they established a culture that was here,” Saban said. “Julio Jones, Mark Ingram and that whole group have lots of pride in that and I want our team to be the same way. I think the dynamics of college football have changed. It’s more challenging to do that because there are more opportunities for guys to make changes, whether it’s to transfer, whether it’s name, image or likeness, whatever it is, they have more choices than they used to.
“But we have to still get them committed to doing things to a certain standard because that creates value for them, that creates value for us, and it’s the kind of program that we want to represent this university.”