Nick Saban’s fiery College GameDay challenge for Alabama against MSU may have been foreshadowing for the Georgia game
The Alabama Crimson Tide rolled into Starkville on game day and left with a statement win over Mississippi State. Now Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs are coming to Tuscaloosa, and the real test of that mindset begins.
Nick Saban has never been shy about speaking his mind, especially when the subject is the Alabama Crimson Tide. On Saturday morning, though, the former Alabama head coach delivered one of his more passionate messages on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Crimson Tide responded in Starkville, Mississippi, exactly the way he asked.
Alabama dominated the Mississippi State Bulldogs 56-23, more than doubling up the home team in a raucous road environment. So the immediate question becomes whether Alabama can bring that same edge home against the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday.
Nick Saban’s message hit home for Alabama
What I liked most about the win is how closely Alabama’s performance tracked with Saban’s words that morning.
Alabama didn’t stay in a hotel the night before. Instead, the team made the drive from Tuscaloosa to Starkville on game day. It almost felt as if the players had Saban’s speech pumping through their headphones the entire ride over.
Here is what Saban said on College GameDay:
“There’s a difference between winning the game and defeating the other team. We’ve got to take their hope away. What I want to see in the fourth quarter is no fans in the stands with no hope of winning the game.”
Well, Saban got his wish. Keelon Russell and the Alabama offense silenced the cowbells, and the performance was defining.
That wasn’t how things looked early. When the game first kicked off, Starkville was rocking, and Mississippi State looked ready for a fight. By the time Alabama was through, ESPN’s cameras repeatedly showed fans heading for the exits.
You get the sense that Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer is preaching that same message inside the building, too.
Why the same mentality matters against Georgia
The truth is, the Mississippi State win only matters if Alabama builds on it. Its next opponent is a big reason why.
The scene shifts to Bryant-Denny Stadium, where the crowd will be raucous, and the weather could be inclement. Those conditions can make a game sloppy and unpredictable. That’s exactly why Alabama needs the same killer instinct it showed in Starkville.
On top of that, Georgia coach Kirby Smart will have his team fired up. You can say plenty about Smart, starting with the fact that he is a darn good football coach. The national championship rings he wears prove that much. More than anything, though, Smart knows how to hype up a football team like few others in the sport.
That means Alabama can’t count on Georgia showing up flat. The Crimson Tide will have to take the Bulldogs’ hope away the same way they did on Saturday in Starkville, and that starts with how they come out of the gate.
Now it’s about building off the Mississippi State win
The way I see it, it was a big-time response from Alabama. The Crimson Tide took Saban’s challenge personally and delivered the type of complete, demoralizing performance he described.
The bottom line is that one statement win doesn’t carry over by itself. Alabama has to bring that same mentality into Bryant-Denny Stadium against Georgia, because Smart’s team will arrive ready for a fight.
Now it’s about building off of that.
