Nick Saban warns Alabama before Vanderbilt game

Vanderbilt isn't what it was last season, aight? It's better, Nick Saban has warned Alabama coming into this weekend's rematch.

Nick Saban says this Vanderbilt team is a lot better than the one that beat Alabama last season. | William McLelland-Imagn Images

Vanderbilt made history around this time last year when it pulled off an upset for the ages against then top-ranked Alabama, and now all eyes are on the insurgent SEC hopeful to make it two straight as they head into Tuscaloosa this weekend.

Despite the Crimson Tide being double-digit favorites this time around, Nick Saban believes Vanderbilt has every ability to make this a real football game again, aight?

“I don’t think there’s any question about it, this is a lot better Vanderbilt team this year than what they had last year,” Saban said on The Pat McAfee Show.

Vandy is cookin'

That’s certainly been the case so far. Vanderbilt is 5-0 for the second time since 2008, and has won its first five games by 20 points for the first time since 1915, while scoring the ninth-most points through five games in SEC history.

Diego Pavia commands an offense that ranks fourth in college football through the first month of the season, averaging 49 points per game, and its 245 total points are the second-most of any team in the country, 10 shy of Tennessee.

And while the Commodores relied more on Pavia’s mobility to throw Alabama’s defense out of sorts last year, this time around, it will be a complete team effort, Saban says.

“He dominates the game now in a different way because, to me, he makes every player on his team better because he’s a much better passer. He went from 57 percent to 70 percent completion,” Saban said.

“He’s got better skill guys, better runners, I think they’re a little better on defense. So this is a real team to me. This guy is a tremendous playmaker. He’s like a point guard out there. This is gonna be a real challenging game.” 

Alabama coming off a big win

This time last year, Alabama was coming off an emotional win over Georgia in an upset before running into Vanderbilt’s trap. This year, however, the Tide will be ready.

Alabama is sitting in a better place than it could have been, coming off an important three-point win at then-No. 5 Georgia last week, a critical improvement for second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer, who already had a loss on the year going in.

Ty Simpson, the former five-star prospect who has waited his turn to become the starter, has 11 touchdown passes and hasn’t thrown an interception while completing more than 69 percent of his pass attempts.

The last time Vanderbilt has defeated the Crimson Tide in the state of Alabama? Television itself was a novelty, back in 1950. Those long-time struggles have allowed SEC fans to form an opinion of the Commodores that’s hard to break.

“I think the big thing is, you talk about, what’s people’s perception?” Saban said. 

“You have this perception of Vanderbilt being an academic school that’s always struggled in the SEC, especially in football. That’s not the case anymore. But it’s hard to get that perception out of your head. I mean, they beat South Carolina at South Carolina. This is a good football team.”

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