Nick Saban was at a loss after Alabama's loss to Tennessee Vols
The Tennessee Vols may have broken Nick Saban on Saturday night in Knoxville. Alright, that might be a stretch. Saban is the greatest coach in the history of college football. He's rebounded from losses before and he'll rebound from this one (I wouldn't want to be Mississippi State next week). After the game, Saban spoke […]
The Tennessee Vols may have broken Nick Saban on Saturday night in Knoxville.
Alright, that might be a stretch. Saban is the greatest coach in the history of college football. He's rebounded from losses before and he'll rebound from this one (I wouldn't want to be Mississippi State next week).
After the game, Saban spoke with reporters and while he expressed plenty of frustration with the number of penalties his team committed (17, breaking their previous season high of 15 against Texas), he also sounded like he was at a loss when it came to defending Tennessee's offense.
Saban didn't blame the tempo or the no-huddle approach for the Vols' success. He didn't chalk up Tennessee's 52 points as the product of a gimmicky offense.
Instead, Saban acknowledged that the Vols simply found a way to get good matchups. And they continued to create explosive plays despite Alabama's adjustments.
“I don’t think the no-huddle offense was the issue for us," said Saban after the loss to the Vols. "I think it was covering their receivers and allowing way too many big plays. They created a lot of mismatches. We were trying to play nickel, so they were trying to get their best receivers on the safeties, and they hit a couple times and we gave up big plays. We started dropping eight guys, that helped us in the second quarter."
"We did the same thing in the third quarter and played some dime so we’d have some better matchups against them," added Saban. "So we made some good adjustments in the game, but we just gave up too many big plays. Even in the second half, they scored on big plays.”
It's extremely rare to hear Saban at a loss. But he really had no answer for the Vols' offense. Alabama made adjustments and they still couldn't stop Tennessee.
I don't think there's any question at this point that Josh Heupel is a top-five coach in college football. Maybe a top-two or top-three coach.
Heupel didn't inherit a great situation like Kirby Smart or Ryan Day. He didn't have the luxury of a loaded roster. And he had to completely overhaul everything the Volunteers were doing — culturally and schematically.
It was supposed to be a years-long rebuild.
And yet here we are at the midpoint in the season and Tennessee is right in the thick of the College Football Playoff conversation.
And Saban, for one, is on the outside looking in.
Featured image via YouTube.com
