Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach in history, whose place in the game is set forever.
Nick Saban is slowly becoming another mouthpiece for a sports network that was once great.
Both of these can be true at the same time. The latest example comes in his tirade against the College Football Playoff committee for allowing James Madison and Tulane in while leaving a team such as Notre Dame out.
“Look, would we allow the winner of the Triple-A baseball league … in the World Series playoffs?” Saban asked. “That’s the equivalent of what we do when JMU gets into the College Football Playoff, and Notre Dame doesn’t. I mean, I don’t want to start any sh*t here, but it is what it is.
“These guys ought to have their own playoff. If it’s all about money, just give them the money. … Give them $4 million and put Notre Dame in. You want to see Notre Dame and Oregon play? Hell yeah.”
Hell yeah. I also want a fresh bowl of strawberries delivered to me in bed every morning, accompanied by a nice Coca-Cola. I'd also like athletic directors to stop schedule neutral-site games and taking away home atmospheres that makes college football so great. But that’s a pipe dream, and right now, this is how the playoffs work.
Saban doesn’t need to be doing this. Why he insists on being on ESPN, especially on College GameDay alongside the sideshow that is Pat McAfee, which makes Beavis and Butthead look like Masterpiece Theatre, is beyond me. He definitely doesn’t need the money. And all of his shilling for Alabama and the SEC is already done by the network itself.
Following in Lou Holtz's footsteps isn't exactly a novel idea
He should have seen what happened to coaches like him beforehand, who decided to go from the sidelines to behind the desk as pundits. Lou Holtz, barely intelligible at times, became a disaster. And anytime you put a microphone in front of him, the chances of something beyond belief would come out were extremely high.
Of course, Saban isn’t alone in his thinking. FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt, whose opinions should be, in honor of Joey Tribbiani, moo, considering they don’t matter, stated that letting Cinderellas into the College Football Playoff is ruining it much like March Madness, only one of the most popular sporting events on the calendar
And maybe this is who Saban has been the entire time, just waiting until retirement to start unleashing hot takes that would sometimes make Stephen A. Smith blush. Or maybe being around McAfee has rubbed off on him. Either way, having one of the most powerful people in college football questioning the playoff bracket 11 days after it was released isn’t going to solve any problems, but only cause more.
Here's the thing: I like Saban. I think he has a great mind both on and off the football field, but this version of him is not what the game needs.
College football will never be perfect, and leaving out a 10-2 Fighting Irish team for two Group of 5 schools isn’t exactly great, but stating that they play in another league is bogus. If college football wants a true winner – and let’s face it, neither the Dukes nor the Green Wave will likely win it all – you need those teams that are just on the outside getting a chance to compete with the big boys. Butler, Gonzaga, San Diego State, and several other schools over the past two decades have proven it in basketball.
In the end, Ohio State, Georgia or one of the other big boys will win the trophy and JMU and Tulane will be a nice little sidenote in the story of the 2025 college football season. Afterwards, Saban and his compatriots at ESPN will have to find something else to complain about.
Hence, the cycle continues with controversy, debate and hot takes filling airtime, but never solving the problems in college football.