Sunday, September 8, 2019

VIDEO: Nick Saban rants (a little) about the Tide's 2019 strength of schedule


This exchange was inevitable. The college football media elite have been yammering about the weakness of the 2019 schedule almost since the final whistle of the 2019 College Football Playoff Championship Game.

A reporter was stupid bold enough to ask Coach Nick Saban what he thought the team got out of playing "this level of competition." Saban's response was predictable and quite mild considering his usual attitude towards stupid bold questions. Video is under 2:00 so watch it all.



I wrote about this about a month before the season started.

"Look, all Alabama can do is play the teams that sign up to show up," I said. "Everyone else? Shut up."

Bama opens the SEC schedule on the road this Saturday at South Carolina. It's not Alabama's nor Nick Saban's fault that Will Muschamp's Gamecocks are 1-1 and lost to North Carolina to start the season.

It's not our fault that Ole Miss, Texas A&M (away), Tennessee and Arkansas are weak SEC members, either.  Look, Tennessee used to be Bama's biggest rival. They just haven't kept up and after sending them a promising new coach, we can't be expected to do anything about else it.

LSU is never a slouch. Mississippi State at home is a late season tough-out.  Auburn beat Alabama the last time they had us at home.

Alabama has sucked the air out of a lot of SEC programs and probably a couple of ACC and Big 12 programs, too. That they can't adjust is not our cross to bear.

It is true that the NCAA's move to a 12-game schedule has created this situation of Power Five conference teams playing weak sisters in non-conference matchups.  That's a lesson in college football economics that no one wants to hear.

The best idea is the one Coach Saban talks about in the video, but that idea costs big boy programs a lot of lost revenue. No one wants to risk a loss that might cost money and a playoff berth, so no one seriously contemplates his idea.

The system is flawed but that's just not Alabama's fault. Sign up, show up and suit up, or shut up.

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