Alabama head coach Nick Saban doesn’t play when it comes to his players grandstanding during games. The coach made that very loud and clear in front of the world and the waiting cameras and microphones when he screamed an expletive confirming that fact.
“Don’t do that sh*t,” Saban yelled after his team’s late defeat of the Texas Longhorns at the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. Several Alabama Crimson Tide players remixed the signature Longhorns hand signal giving a “horns down” to their Texas Longhorns opponents after gaining the win on the final play of the game.
Alabama was almost undone by penalties, committing 15 for what would have been an upset if unranked Texas had beaten them.
Nick Saban “Dont do That shit “ pic.twitter.com/YNQAyMy2oY
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) September 10, 2022
“We had way too many penalties,” said Saban post-game. “We shot ourselves in the foot quite a bit.”
But the Crimson Tide won 20-19 with a last-minute field goal to set off the college football Saturday.
However, it was a close game that was a nail-biter to the end but ultimately validated why Bryce Young was the Heisman trophy winner last year. Before a record crowd of 105,213, Young survived two sacks and that Texas pressure on 12 dropbacks. Young threw for 213 yards with one touchdown, running the ball seven times for 38 yards. Young was 1 of 8 for 7 yards for the first three quarters when pressured, and he completed three of his four passes under pressure in the fourth quarter.
WHAT. A. GAME. 🙌
No. 1 Alabama comes away with the 20-19 win over Texas
Bryce Young: 27/39, 251 total yards, 1 TD pic.twitter.com/n4CKaMZB2r
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 10, 2022
But Young’s 20-yard hustle into Texas territory with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter set the game-winning 33-yard field goal by Will Reichard. The win extended Alabama’s streak of 53 consecutive nonconference regular-season wins, but Saban was still critical of the performance.
“Well, we didn’t block them very well up front, didn’t protect very well, got pressure in the pocket,” Saban continued. “Wasn’t very effective throwing the ball. Didn’t get people open. Probably need to do a better job from a planning standpoint, the way they played us. So, um, you know it just all comes down to execution.”
The team displayed the Longhorns’ taunt after the game again, and Saban blamed potential distractions for his team’s unfamiliarly poor performance.
Bryce Young hit the celly then IMMEDIATELY stopped to talk with Nick Saban 🤣
(via @SECNetwork)pic.twitter.com/ovpzQyMoF4
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 4, 2022
“When you’re playing games like this, you have to focus on what’s in front of you,” he said. “You can’t worry about all the other stuff that’s going on — what people say, what they say on ESPN, what you all [the media] say, how much you’re favored in the game.
“You have to focus on what’s in front of you. You’re an offensive lineman, that’s the guy you gotta block. If you’re a receiver, that’s the guy you gotta beat. If you’re a quarterback, you gotta take what the defense gives you. If you’re a runner, you gotta press the hole and make the right cuts. So we didn’t do any of that stuff the way we need to. So it wasn’t just one thing.”
Alabama is the best team in college football for a reason; they find a way to win. Now Saban is trying to teach them with tough love that you can still be humble in victory.
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