Latest Just Now:Scratch Saban ridiculously tears Alabama players’ activities in the wake of losing Rose Bowl to Michigan
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban is salty about the Crimson Tide’s 27-20 loss to Michigan at the Rose Bowl.
It was an exhilarating walk-off win for the Wolverines in overtime, stuffing Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe with goal-to-go on 4th down. The instant death of Alabama’s season at that moment led to an emotional scene on the Alabama sideline. Heartbreak and frustration. Tears and adrenaline. And for Saban, he didn’t like how Alabama players conducted themselves in the aftermath, both on the field and in the locker room.
Saban says the Rose Bowl loss wasn’t why he retired, but it sounds like some of the circumstances surrounding the loss did factor in.
I want to be clear that wasn’t the reason, but some of those events certainly contributed,” Saban told ESPN. “I was really disappointed in the way that the players acted after the game. You gotta win with class. You gotta lose with class. We had our opportunities to win the game and we didn’t do it, and then showing your ass and being frustrated and throwing helmets and doing that stuff … that’s not who we are and what we’ve promoted in our program
There is nothing wrong with being frustrated and throwing a helmet in the heat of a moment. After all, this wasn’t an ordinary game.
The Rose Bowl is nicknamed ‘the granddaddy of them all’, and it was a playoff edition of the storied bowl. A loss in the College Football Playoff is brutal enough, but what made it all the more devastating was the fact Alabama squandered a 20-13 lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter and then went on to lose in overtime. That’s a tough pill to swallow. Saban, who’s been known to yell at players and show them up on the sideline, should understand why players threw their helmets and why their frustration lingered on into the locker room. However, it seems like this is a roundabout way of Saban pointing blame instead.
Saban went on to talk about how after the loss players were concerned about their playing time next season and how much money they can make via NIL. This dynamic, Saban claims, also factored into his retirement