The Alabama Crimson Tide are one win away from completing a perfect 10-0 regular season. That may seem expected, but it also appears to mean more to Nick Saban than one might think.
The Crimson Tide travel to Arkansas on Saturday as heavy favorites, knowing that a victory will secure a perfect regular season record ahead of the SEC Championship game. Saban has only managed to run the table once with Alabama. That was in 2009, his third season at the school, when the Crimson Tide went 14-0 to claim Saban’s first championship at the school. Even though this will represent a shorter season, Saban wants to repeat the feat — and thinks it would be even more impressive this year due to playing an SEC-only schedule.
“It’s a little bit of a historic game for us too, you know,” Saban said Monday, via Mike Rodak of al.com. “We’ve only had one team around here that went undefeated. And that wasn’t as difficult for that team to go undefeated as it is for this team playing 10 SEC games.”
Saban is famous for his level-headed approach, his desire to keep his team focused, and his dismissal of certain measures of success. This isn’t really something you’d expect him to discuss, especially before it happens. However, he’s also offered somewhat surprising thoughts on having his players relish their success. This would qualify as one of those moments.
