Bama-Notre Dame? A big game. Nick Saban? Even bigger
"You know, Brian, these crystal things can break if you drop them. Just a warning." (AP photo by John Bazemore)
Fort Lauderdale – Taking a break from leveraged buyouts, the Wall Street Journal devoted four full Friday pages to college football, labeling Alabama-Notre Dame “the biggest game ever.” And it well may be. Alabama claims 14 national championships, Notre Dame 11. Alabama had the Bear, Notre Dame the Four Horseman. But you know all this already.
The mood on the ground in South Florida is a bit different. In January 2005, USC met Oklahoma here for the BCS title, and that, at least until kickoff, felt like a bigger game. Four of the top five vote-getters in the 2004 Heisman Trophy balloting — Matt Leinart, Adrian Peterson, Jason White and Reggie Bush — were on display, and three of those would actually win a Heisman before leaving school. (Then the game began and a Sooner named Mark Bradley fumbled a punt and the Trojans won 55-19. So much for buildup.)
Before the other Mark Bradley got involved, that championship game seemed a collision of colossi. This time there’s only one giant, and he’s the guy envious rivals insists wears lifts in his shoes.
Nick Saban, 5-foot-6, towers over college football in a way that even Paul William Bryant didn’t quite. The Bear had peers — Ara Parseghian, Bud Wilkinson, John McKay, Darrell Royal, Woody Hayes, Bob Devaney, Barry Switzer, Joe Paterno. Saban stands alone. Only Urban Meyer has a case for similar eminence, and if Alabama wins Monday night Meyer will have half as many BCS titles.
Brian Kelly has steered Notre Dame to an unbeaten season, and his Irish enter the title game ranked No. 1 to Alabama’s No. 2. Yet the most revealing question directed toward Kelly at a Sunday morning briefing was, “How much of a compliment is it for someone to say they see a lot of Nick Saban in you?” Kelly’s response: “A great personal compliment … I would take that moniker any time.”
Saban has won so big at Alabama — this would make three national championships in four seasons, and it would make the Tide the first repeat titlist of the BCS era — that questions for him tend to center less on this particular team than his famous “process,” which on its face is Football 101: Work hard, recruit well, establish team discipline. This wouldn’t have been a revelation to Bear Bryant, who delighted in arriving at work before dawn and calling the Auburn football office and getting no answer, which meant he was outworking his nemesis.
Said Kelly: “I know Nick has talked about it, too — it’s a little bit old fashioned in the sense that this (game) is about the big fellas up front. It’s not about the crazy receiving numbers or passing yards or rushing yards; this is about the big fellas, and this game will be decided unquestionably up front.”
There are no gimmicks to Saban’s football. His defensive schemes are complex — when Saban was at LSU, a defensive player told the Baton Rouge writer Glenn Guilbeau that the Tigers named their different blitzes after states and ran out of states — but Alabama under Saban is essentially as Alabama was under Bryant, big and strong and fierce and above all consistent.
In his book, “How the SEC Became Goliath,” Ray Glier reports that Saban has a physical profile for recruits: Bama doesn’t want little guys, or inflexible ones. According to Glier, Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who worked under Saban at Michigan State, has brought those guidelines to Athens. Such is the immensity of Saban. He’s not some hot coach with a sexy offense. He’s he guy who came to the league that already played the best football and has forced everyone else to do as he does.
Business publications like Fortune and Forbes have sought to discover what makes Saban so successful, as if football was all nuts and bolts and no blood and guts. (A Fortune nugget: To save time and confusion, Saban eats a salad with turkey strips for lunch every day.) But he nearly teared up when he spoke of his dad, who was known as Big Nick and who ran a service station and a Dairy Queen in Monongah, West Va., and mentioned that he hated having to wash blue and black cars because Big Nick would make him do it again if he found streaks.
Said Saban: “So we learned a lot about work ethic. We learned a lot about having compassion for other people and respecting other people, and we learned about the importance of doing things correctly. And when I started to play for him in Pop Warner football, he was the same way as a coach — attention to detail, discipline, do things what you’re supposed to do, the way you’re supposed to do it, when you’re supposed to do it, the way it’s supposed to get done … discipline was engrained in just about everything that we did.”
This isn’t to say the Saban Process is all sweetness and light. Alabama did flout the spirit, if not the actual rule, by its oversigning of recruits, and many in South Florida hate Saban for running out on the Miami Dolphins after two nondescript years. But we can’t dispute the magnitude of what he has done at Alabama, and what he has done is render himself bigger than the biggest collegiate game in many a moon.
Further reading: History may favor the underdog Irish, but Bama is too good.
Still further: Bama’s Geno Smith went the wrong way on UGA’s final play.
By Mark Bradley
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144 comments Add your comment
Saban OWNS College Football
January 6th, 2013
4:05 pm
All the little UGA dogs die from those heart attacks in recent years by dreaming and wishing they could be intimate on a leg of such Greatness as that of Coach Saban instead of Mark “Welcome to Chick-fil-A. How may I serve you?” Richt.
Even Coach Saban’s Ford commercials are better than Richt’s.
This whole state is full of jealous haters,
GOT 5 (more yards) ?
GOT 15 ?
Roll Tied !
evil empire
January 6th, 2013
4:05 pm
@A&M 29 — Bama 24
things like that happen in the SEC West…keep bragging about the charitable victory over Florida, and your “almost” Bama win/loss/5 yards short/spike the ball/cmr&murray chokefest..
Stinger 2
January 6th, 2013
4:07 pm
Mark: Are you not going overboard with a statement that a coach is bigger than the game? I and most everyone else would agree that Saban `s record speaks for itself and he will go down as one of the great college coaches in history. But to say one person (regardless of the profession he is in or how great his record is) is bigger or better than all others is taking it too far in my humble opinion. In football, it takes more than a head coach to win.
SickandTired
January 6th, 2013
4:09 pm
Moist Dawg? Really?
Perhaps you should quit looking a pictures of Mark Richt. Then you should dry up.
beone
January 6th, 2013
4:17 pm
Living in Alabama and being neither an Auburn nor an Alabama fan, I can only comment that Saban is a Jerk with a capital J.
Kentucky Dawg
January 6th, 2013
4:21 pm
How can you write a list of great Bear Bryant-era coaches and leave out Bobby Dodd?
Saban may be a good/great recruiter, but being at Alabama makes recruiting much easier.
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
4:26 pm
Out-Coached and Out-Played
in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Novenber 10th is not very big.
And give Notre Dame credit
for not playing any cup-cake teams like Alabama does every year.
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
4:29 pm
November 10, 2012 —- a day in infamy.
Moist Dawg
January 6th, 2013
4:31 pm
I approve of beones comment and he is a jerk and an overrated coach.
If he was so great than why was he a complete failure and a joke in the nfl? Answer: because he cant cheat in the nfl like he can in the college.
These “reporters” drooling all over a crooked coach makes me want to vomit. They are scared to do a little research because that midget nick satan will cut them off.
The cowards are disgusting.
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
4:41 pm
November 10, 2012—-I just wet my pants again!
Woofy One
January 6th, 2013
4:48 pm
It will likely be an Auburn – Cam Newton year for Bama.
spell check?
January 6th, 2013
4:56 pm
Roll Tied ! LMAO
please Browns
January 6th, 2013
4:58 pm
give this little man whatever it takes to get him. But just get him out of the SEC!
56 dog
January 6th, 2013
5:04 pm
i see bammer really spanked dial for that cheap hit on murray.they took care of it in house.which means they did nothing.
Paul in NH
January 6th, 2013
5:07 pm
Kentucky Dawg
January 6th, 2013
4:21 pm
Saban may be a good/great recruiter, but being at Alabama makes recruiting much easier.
———
I have to agree with this one. Somehow Saban never managed to win a bowl game in 5 years at Michigan State.
Truth
January 6th, 2013
5:22 pm
The fact that moist dawg is so upset over this game makes it that much more enjoyable.
Truth
January 6th, 2013
5:22 pm
The fact that moist dawg is so upset over this game makes it that much more enjoyable.
Former Georgian
January 6th, 2013
5:24 pm
I love the comment about ND not playing any “cupcake teams”. Anyone else catch USC’s performance in the Sun Bowl? I bet Tech would have more trouble with Ga Southern!
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
5:26 pm
“Alabama did flout the spirit, if not the actual rule, by its oversigning of recruits,”
I see Mark Bradley remains unencumbered by mere facts. The fact of the matter is that since Saban arrived at Bama that Bama is middle of the pack in the SEC in terms of oversigning. You can look it up on rivals and scout and verify this. But don’t let facts get in the way of such a well worn L I E.
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
5:28 pm
“A&M 29 — Bama 24″
So…
DawgNole
January 6th, 2013
5:28 pm
Wet Willie…keep on smiling
January 6th, 2013
4:03 pm
Terry…sport you have a big case of envy! Moist Doggie is just having some fun…no way he can be that stupid.
____________________
I hope you’re right, because his posts sure make him appear stupid.
Bama fan
January 6th, 2013
5:31 pm
Notre Dame played USC on the road, Oklahoma on the road, and Stanford. What was that that someone said about them playing a “cupcake” schedule. Oh, they also played Michigan, Michigan state, and probably one or 2 other respectable programs that I haven’t thought of. And while they won a series of close games facts are facts. They still won.
Truth
January 6th, 2013
5:32 pm
Dawgnole, I hope you are right on moistdawg. I know a great many UGA fans and have no issues with them or UGA but moist seems …………… well I’ll just let you decide.
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
5:37 pm
56 dog
January 6th, 2013
5:04 pm
i see bammer really spanked dial for that cheap hit on murray.they took care of it in house.which means they did nothing.
I see Richt really spanked Ogletree for his head to head against AJ McCarron who, unlike a running Aaron Murray, was a sitting duck. Looks like Saint Richt didn’t do much to Sheldon Dawson for his thuggish eye poking of our All American and projected top 10 pick Dee Milliner. And last of course it looks like Richt didn’t do anything about Jarvis Jones who did a blindside cheapshot hit on Michael Williams of Alabama. Then again after this 6′6 270 lb tight end had been ploughing poor Jarvis 5 yards downfield most of the game I can’t blame Jarvis for getting tired of the buttkicking he was taking. Someone tell Jarvis he can get up off of his back now. Same for the rest of the dawg defense.
drsoul
January 6th, 2013
5:39 pm
moist is a ‘wannabe’….not a real fan, nor much of an athlete probably….hey, moist??? how many rings in your house??? you losers love to accuse winners of only being winners by cheating…!!! and, yes, A&M got one on BAMA this year, but are they playing tomorrow night???
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
5:40 pm
…. blemished record, blemished coach, hype, hype, hype !
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
5:41 pm
“A&M 29 — Bama 24″
So.
drsoul
January 6th, 2013
5:42 pm
Tide Rising….only the jailbirds get punished at Georgia…
drsoul
January 6th, 2013
5:44 pm
“moist” is just a wannabe….not a real Dawg fan….probably not even a good athlete… hey md??? how many rings in that house of yours??? by the way, you losers can only cry cheating when someone beats you… and, yes, A&M did get one on BAMA, but who is playing tomorrow night????
Aggie Land
January 6th, 2013
5:44 pm
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
5:28 pm
“A&M 29 — Bama 24″
So…
You can go to sleep at night knowing we came into your house and beat you and if you came into our house right now we would spank you by at least two touchdowns whether you hoist that crystal ball tomorrow night or not. Real National Champions start being crowned in 2014. So your false title count will be irrelevant starting then.
globeflyer
January 6th, 2013
5:44 pm
Two points: One, Saban himself said that this Bama team exceeded expectations. Two, It is what it is, and if Bama wins the the Dawg fans can say they took the BCS National Champs to the wire. A & M is a great team, but you gotta win the right games to get in “the game”.
drsoul
January 6th, 2013
5:46 pm
A&M may have got one on BAMA this year, but who is playing tomorrow night???
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
5:48 pm
CupCakes RISING:
Florida Atlantic
Western Carolina
Western Kentucky
drsoul
January 6th, 2013
5:49 pm
Good post, ‘globeflyer’…
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
5:49 pm
“only the jailbirds get punished at Georgia”
And lord knows they’ve had a bunch of em. What is it something like 50 player arrests/police contacts over the last 5 years?
And lets not forget the cross dressing gay prostitute UGA professor or the DUI athletics director with the red panties. Embarrassing I tell ya. Simply embarrassing. For punishment they should be sentenced to cleaning up the tons of trash on the northside of the uga campus after a ballgame. Its still kinda shocking that you could have so many crappy people in one setting that think its acceptable to just throw trash all over the place. Must be a Georgia thing.
Moist Dawg
January 6th, 2013
5:51 pm
I’m just as much of a fan as any of your people. I’m sick of some of you snobs and your personal attacks. We’re on the same side you morons!
Go ahead Dawg “fans” make fun of me all you want but I laugh in your faces for defending nick satan. Sometimes I think I am one of the last, true, old time REAL fans
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
5:53 pm
Saban said losing to Texas A&M was unacceptable
unless it was his team that lost, then it should be acceptable.
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
5:53 pm
A&M 29 — Bama 24
You left out Michigan punkin. Or does that not fit your pre coneived idea. And Western Kentucky beat an SEC team this year. Or did you not know that? Or that they went to a bowl game? You aint too bright are ya son? And your out of conference wasn’t too impressive either. I see no big name team like Michigan on it.
Mike
January 6th, 2013
5:53 pm
You people laugh but terry is right. Saban is dirty and his process is dirty and it is fueled by the people of Tuscaloosa. Since sabans arrival, can anyone think of a good player getting in trouble at Bama? I guess we are to believe these kids are just the most well behaved kids in the conference. He and the local police are corrupt and I’m not sure you people in Georgia realize how desperate Bama fans are for acceptance. They want everyone to worship them about football. Look no further when their ridiculous fan base added five championships overnight in the 80s. It’s all about attention. Alabama was like the rest of the sec teams prior to saban. They struck gold for a while and they should be thankful he graced their presence for a few years because once he leaves they will go back to occasional good seasons and competitive but not this dominant. Trust me kids don’t want to live in Tuscaloosa. They will play there now for saban but once he’s gone, the expectations will be so high and the fans will be so depressed they will do anything for a win and to try and reclaim the same level. Saban pays, gets jobs for family members, hides money through walk one, etc. scholarships to girlfriends. All of it. He is just like the bear.
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
5:55 pm
A&M 29 — Bama 24
All I know is that we’re still the SEC champions and that we are in the BCS title game. You???
drsoul
January 6th, 2013
5:55 pm
”A&M 29 — Bama 24 ‘….and just what channel can we find your team on tomorrow night???
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
5:56 pm
Last year Saban said winning the SEC Championship was not that important,
this year Saban said winning the SEC Championship was very important.
Paul in NH
January 6th, 2013
6:00 pm
Why do I get the impression that Thomas Brown is Moist Dawg’s hero?
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
6:02 pm
Saban is the “The Spin Zone”.
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
6:04 pm
“Saban said losing to Texas A&M was unacceptable
unless it was his team that lost, then it should be acceptable”
Saban said that? Sure he did buddy. Or did you conjure up another fictional quote from http://www.pulledouttamyass.com
A&M 29 -- Bama 24
January 6th, 2013
6:05 pm
Last year, Saban said Oklahoma State won their Conference
but that was a minor issue,
GTBob
January 6th, 2013
6:06 pm
Anybody can win at Bama…do it in the pros! Saban and the ole ball coach were failures!!
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
6:06 pm
A&M 29 — Bama 24
Looks like someone has a serious case of Saban envy.
GTBob
January 6th, 2013
6:06 pm
Anybody can win t Bama…do it in the pos! Saban and theole ball coach were failures!!
Tide Rising
January 6th, 2013
6:08 pm
“do it in the pos! Saban and theole ball coach were failures!!”
So.