Nick Saban Affords an Extra Little Debbie For Sundays
Alabama head football coach Nick Saban assured the Crimson Tide faithful that Miss Terry was fully focused on Chattanooga as he signed off from his weekly visit with "The Pat McAfee Show" on Thursday.
The Crimson Tide is a 45.5-point favorite against the Mocs in the final home-game of the season but Saban wants the team focused on continuing to build positive momentum as the season comes to a conclusion.
That means the seven-time national champion still gets up at the same time every day, lets the dogs out in the morning and has his coffee and Little Debbies and gets his work started just the same, even if it's FCS's Chattanooga on the schedule.
"I stay focused this way all the time because I try to prepare with a certain routine everyday. I get up, everyday, I let the dog out, I have a cup of coffee, I get two Little Debbie cookies, that's how I start, I shower, I shave, I do the same thing when I go to work everyday," said Saban to McAfee. "So, you know, routine sort of helps people stay in the moment. That's what I try to focus on, that's what I try to get our player to focus on. That's how I try to prepare our players."
That routine has led the Tide to a 9-1 record and an SEC West Championship in 2023 with two weeks left to go in the season. This is Saban's 13th division championship in Tuscaloosa but he stays the course just like it's his first.
"We've gone through lots of dogs. But I've been doing this for so long, I can't remember how long. Somebody asked me this question way back when and I couldn't remember then," said Saban. "Like I said to you guys before they didn't have such things as obsessive compulsive personalities but that like to do the same things in the same routine all the time and have everything in a certain order but I'm sure that if I got diagnosed that would probably be the..."
The head coach revealed to McAfee he makes an exception on Sundays and sometimes has a third Little Debbie due to the strenuous nature of having to wrap up one week and start off another on the same day.
"Everyday. We don't take Sundays off, not during the season," said Saban. "That's one of the most challenging days for you as a college coach is, you've got to clean up the last game, you've got to grade the last game, you've got to make corrections, and then you've got to start on the next opponent so at least you can make those corrections with the players on Monday as well as start to install a new game plan for the next opponent so Sunday is a really difficult day for us and I might even eat an extra Little Debbie in the morning then."
The Crimson Tide may be severely outmatching the Chattanooga Mocs this weekend but Saban's focus and drive comes from his knowledge of momentum and progress. Alabama is on an eight-game winning streak with each performance looking a little better than the last. It's important for the Tide to put on a strong showing on Saturday with a trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium and a date with Georgia in the SEC Championship game looming to close the year.
"I think games like this can hurt you if you don't play well, because there's an expectation out there. I don't know if it's eye test, I just think that you want your team to play well so you're continuing to build this momentum and rhythm that make people want to look at your team as a very good team that should be considered for whatever the circumstance may end up to be."
