What Nick Saban Said About Alabama's Sugar Bowl Matchup, Missing Out on CFP
Alabama fans, players and coaches were closely scoreboard watching over conference championship weekend to see if the Crimson Tide still had a shot at the College Football Playoff.
Despite two teams ahead of Alabama losing over the weekend, the Crimson Tide only moved up one spot and will miss out on the CFP for the second time in the last four season.
The CFP committee ranked Alabama No. 5, which means the Crimson Tide will take on No. 9 Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Eve.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban will speak to the media Sunday afternoon. Follow along for live updates throughout with a full transcript and video to be posted after.
Live Updates
- "Our team is really excited about the opportunity to play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against a really, really good opponent in Kansas State."- Saban during his opening statement
- "Our team needs to bounce back and show that they're excited about the opportunity we have to play against a top notch team that was a conference champion."
- "We're going to coach the players that are there."- Saban when asked about roster management for the Sugar Bowl. He says the coaches have a great amount of respect for the guys who are going to finish the season with the team. He says there will definitely be opportunities for young guys to step up.
- Saban says they had recruits in town this weekend, so he did not watch Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game. He is very impressed with the Wildcats' accomplishments though.
- He says there's obvious disappointment in not being in the CFP.
- Saban calls the Sugar Bowl a "classic" game.
- Saban says the bowl game is a good opportunity for players to look forwards, not backwards.
- He says it's an individual decision for the players whether they should play or not, but that every player has the opportunity to create value for themselves.
- "The culture and dynamic of college football is very different than it's been before."- Saban when talking about players opting out.
- Saban does not know if Bryce Young and Will Anderson are going to play in the game. He says both participated in workouts with the team last week. He will see both at the team's award banquet at 5 p.m.
Full Transcript
Nick Saban Opening Statement: Our team is really excited about having the opportunity to play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against a really, really good opponent in Kansas State. They've just come off a great win to win their conference. And Coach Chris Klieman has done a fantastic job there with their team, and this is certainly going to be a challenging game for us. They play great on defense. They've got two really good quarterbacks. They've got a really great running back, and there's a lot of diversity in what they do. They're a very well-coached team.
You know, our team needs to bounce back and show they're excited about the opportunity that we have to play against a top-notch team who's a conference championship.
Just in terms of what you've discussed earlier today about potential opt-outs and you can't speculate on that, between those and some of the players that have gone into the transfer portal, just where do you see the depth of your roster and some of the numbers of your roster going into this game?
COACH SABAN: Well, I think we're going to coach the players that are there. We're going to try to coach them to do the best possible job that they can. We certainly have a great amount of appreciation and respect for the guys who are going to finish the season with the team. And we're going to do the best job that we can to help those guys – put those guys in a position where they have a chance to be successful. There will be some opportunity for some new guys, no question. But we're looking forward to the challenge.
I know you're maybe still learning about Kansas State this early on, but what are your first impressions of the Wildcats?
COACH SABAN: Well, I mean, we really haven't had an opportunity to look at them at this point. Didn't have an opportunity to watch the game yesterday, although that was an outstanding victory for them. And, you know, we have recruits in this weekend. So we're working on recruiting; so we didn't get a chance to see the game. We have a chance to review the film, but we have a tremendous amount of respect for their accomplishments, their players, their coach, and what they've been able to do this season.
I know that this team had an idea for the playoff and wanting to get in there, but the Sugar Bowl, how satisfied is it that you get the New Year's Six, you get the Sugar Bowl, and you're playing against a really good team?
COACH SABAN: Well, you know, obviously, there's going to be some disappointment that we didn't get in the playoffs, but we sort of had a season that was a little up and down for us. We finished strong. Hopefully, we can do a great job of embracing the challenge that we have playing in a classic – to me, when you're talking about the Sugar Bowl and how exciting it is to be a part of it – and that our players will embrace that and want to go do a great job sort of having the opportunity to prove who they are as a team.
Obviously, you were campaigning pretty hard for the guys to make the playoffs. And, obviously, as you just mentioned, the Sugar Bowl is still very prestigious. How much do you guys view this as an opportunity to really cap off what's been a great season even though it's not the way you guys hoped it would be?
COACH SABAN: We're looking forward to it. It's exciting. It's a challenge for us to sort of prove against a really, really good team what kind of team we really are. And I think our players will be excited about the challenge. It's certainly an honor for us to be in the Sugar Bowl.
I noticed you haven't really had an opportunity to catch up on this year's K State team. This is first time that these programs are going to be playing each other in the history of the sport. What's your impression of Kansas State as a whole from what you know?
COACH SABAN: Well, we've always had a tremendous amount of respect for Kansas State. They play with a lot of toughness. They're very well coached. They're a really disciplined team. They're ball hawkers. They attack the ball. I had a lot of respect for Coach [Bill] Snyder when he was there and the great job that he did for many, many years. Chris [Klieman] has certainly picked up and built what has turned out to be an outstanding team for this year.
With bowl games, how much do you see it as an opportunity to build for the next season with players who maybe haven't seen as much playing time this season?
COACH SABAN: I think there's going to be opportunities created for the bowl game. And, you know, it's a good opportunity for players to look forward not look backward in terms of what they have a chance to accomplish, what they have a chance to do and how we can use this time to help their development.
If players come to you seeking your advice for what they should do, whether to play or not play, what would be your advice to them?
COACH SABAN: I think that's a decision that every player has to make. I don't think it's up to me. I think that just about every player on our team can create value for himself by how he plays. I know when you play against their opponents that you get evaluated really strongly based on how you play against really good opponents, and we're going to be playing against a really good opponent. So this is really an opportunity for everybody on our team to create value for themselves and, you know, answer any questions that anybody might have about them.
Players opting out for bowl games has not been a problem for you in the past. Again, like you said, you're leaving it up to them this time. How is this different an approach for you than maybe you've had in the past, that you don't have the playoffs at stake. what do you hope for your team to get out of it?
COACH SABAN: We've had one situation like this, and I think we had two players that didn't play in that game. I think the culture and dynamic of college football right now is a lot different than it's ever been before. So I think this is much more challenging to get players to understand how they can create value by playing in a bowl game.
You know, we said long ago that the bigger the playoffs get, the less significant the bowl games might be. And I think that's happened to some degree. But this is still a tremendous opportunity to play against a really, really good team. And we have a lot to prove as a team in terms of who we are and what's the legacy of this team, how are we going to be remembered.
So it's each guy's choice as to what they do. We – and they have a lot of choices now. Players have a lot of choices. So hopefully they'll make choices that will create value for themselves and their team and their teammates, and that's pretty much what we're going to encourage them to do.
Not sure if you are willing or able or if you know, but any word on if Bryce Young or Will Anderson are going to play in this game?
COACH SABAN: No. We have a 5:00 sort of little awards ceremony. I haven't had the opportunity to talk to either one of those guys yet. They participated in the workouts that we had last week, and we'll get an opportunity to talk to them at some point in time this week.
So just talk about how this season has progressed and just what kind of things have you noticed with the weaknesses and how you can use that to turn those into strengths in this bowl game, given that you've got a really powerful Kansas State team that you guys are going to be playing against.
COACH SABAN: I think every adversity creates an opportunity, and I certainly think that we had some adversity throughout the season. I think it started when Bryce [Young] got hurt at Arkansas and then playing the A&M game and was not probably full strength for the next month of the season.
And we didn't make the progress that we would have liked to have made during that time, but we lost two really tough games on the last play of the game in both instances. And, you know, we had opportunities in both of those games that weren't able to take advantage of it. I think our team learned a lot, you know, from that. And I thought we played well as a team in the last three games. So hopefully we can continue to build on that.
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