Have Georgia and Alabama lost their ‘wow’ factor?
Chad Brown discusses the factors that he thinks are to blame for the decline in dominance that we usually see from Georgia and Alabama.
Sports Seriously
PASADENA, CALIF. – There was no official word on whether Nick Saban will return as Alabama’s football coach after his team lost to Michigan, 27-20, in overtime Monday in the Rose Bowl.
But Terry Saban, wife of the 72-year-old coach, revealed her husband’s more immediate plans: watch a movie on Netflix rather than watching Texas play Washington in the second College Football Playoff semifinal game later that night.
Terry Saban greeted her husband with a hug and a few pats on the back after he finished his postgame press conference. They spoke too quietly to be heard, but Terry Saban told USA TODAY Sports this is how their conversation went:
Terry Saban: “Do you want to watch the other football game?’’
Nick Saban: “Not really.’’
Terry Saban: “OK, let’s watch Netflix.’’
Terry Saban explained she and Nick have been watching a foreign film. “It’s Turkish or something,’’ she said, adding that having to read the subtitles would be helpful for her husband.
“It completely gets your mind off of (the defeat),’’ she said.
She spoke to USA TODAY Sports while standing with a small group of people near the large tent where Nick Saban conducted his postgame interview. He did not address his plans for next season.
When USA TODAY Sports asked Terry Saban if her husband would continue coaching, a young woman interjected.
“We’re not answering questions like that right now,’’ she said.
Asked if her husband was doing OK after the loss, Terry said, “Fifty-two years of doing it, we’ve experienced it before, right? And you try to find the silver lining to teach other players for the next time.”
What Saban said about final play call
Nick Saban indicated the final play call of Alabama’s season came from his first-year offensive coordinator, Tommy Rees. It will not go down as one of the favorites in Alabama football history.
With Alabama facing fourth-and-goal at the Michigan 3-yard line in overtime, quarterback Jalen Milroe took the snap and ran up the middle. He gained a yard before Michigan defenders tackled and ended the game.
Michigan called timeout and then Alabama called out before the play was run.
“We called three plays,’’ Saban said. “One they called timeout, one we called timeout, and the last one that didn’t work. The fact that it didn’t work made it a really bad call. You know what I mean?
“But we called timeout because we had a bad look. We had a good look on the first one. They must have known it.”
Regardless, Rees wanted the ball in MIlroe’s hands, according to Saban.
“…Tommy just felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run, which was kind of our two-point play, one of our two-point plays for this game,’’ he said.
What’s the deal with the bad snaps?
Milroe and center Seth McLaughlin had almost four months to work out the issues the quarterback-center exchange that plagued them from the start of the season. No luck.
With Milroe mostly operating out of the shotgun formation, McLaughin fired several off-targets snaps.
Two came on back-to-back plays early in the third quarter, and the second one resulted in a sack and loss of 6 yards.
Milroe, asked after the game about the issue, said, “The quarterback and the center have to have a great relationship and that’s something that we tried to build throughout the whole season. There’s a multitude of things that me and Seth talk about in that regard. That’s something that we do talk about.”
McLaughlin, a senior, took over as the team’s starting center midway through the 2022 season.
Saban raves about team’s turnaround
Yes, Saban acknowledged, he was disappointed about the loss.
“But one thing that I told them in the locker room after the game, this is one of the most amazing seasons in Alabama football history in terms of where this team came from,” he said, “what they were able to accomplish and what they were able to do, winning the SEC Championship, and really, really proud of this group.’’
Alabama’s season looked ready to unravel after a 34-24 loss to Texas in the second week of the season and an uninspiring 21-7 victory over South Florida the third week of the season. But the Crimson Tide changed the course of its season during an 11-game winning streak that culminated with a victory over Georgia in the SEC Championship game.
“As a coach, you’re always trying to get your team to improve and be the best that they can be, and I think this team probably improved from the South Florida game and the Texas game early in the season as much as any team I’ve ever coached,’’ Saban said.
“That takes a lot of hard work. A lot of people being very committed to doing things that they need to do to self-assess and improve their game, and all these players bought in on this team and did it in first-class fashion.
“That’s why I think for me as a coach, maybe not for everybody else, it’s one of the teams that I’ll always remember the most and always be the most proud of.”
