RickKarle's Blog

     The final Alabama 41, Georgia 30- and Nick Saban is as grumpy as ever!  It was a beat down in Athens tonight, and while the Alabama football coach is indeed happy his team is 5-0, he's very concerned with that one word that he insists can come back to haunt his players:  Expectations.  Says Saban after the big win tonight, "You guys (the media) are interested in writing about what this team could do but I'm not interested."  Saban wasn't done, as he said he did not see a full body of work against the Bulldogs, his team did not finish as he wanted, his players were not consistent, and he ignored the 5-0 record by saying "It's the record at the end of the season that counts."

     The good news for Alabama fans? Nick Saban has his players right where he wants them.  He leads an unbeaten team, but his team did give up 30 points to UGA, so he can chew on his players all week long, knocking them down to size and reminding them that they are certainly not worthy of his praise.  If his team won 59-0 and played near-perfect football, he would have been in difficult territory with his players. A 41-30 victory gives Saban plenty of criticism to take to his players.

    And more from Saban on fans and media looking forward to the possibility that this team could go all the way:  "If you guys want to drink the Kool-Aid, go ahead.  You media guys will beat me up, and next week I'll come back and tell you I was right."  Classic Saban: Temper expectations on the eve of the new polls being released.  Polls that could have the Crimson Tide ranked in the top three!

     As I head on home, a thought to keep under your cap.  Nick Saban won an SEC championship in his second year at LSU. A few years later he won a national championship.  Can you say deja vu? Could it really happen? If it does, Nick Saban will finally be able to say,. "I told you so!".