Nick Saban Opens Up About Additions to SEC, College Football Playoff Format

This year’s SEC Media Days stand out from the rest for several reasons.

One of those is that the conference welcomed the arrival of former Big 12 powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma.

Former Alabama football head coach Nick Saban has been pursuing a career as an analyst since his surprise retirement on January 10. On Monday, he spoke about the SEC’s two new teams, noting that the competition in this league is very different.

“Well, I think they’re two great programs, so when you add two really good teams that are going to be mixed in with people’s schedules, but I think the biggest thing for them is that they’re going to be more consistent and perform better because they’re going to play a tougher schedule,” Saban said. “There’s going to be a premium on ‘Can they play good teams week in and week out’ because that’s always the challenge in the SEC.”

Texas has been vocal about Longhorn culture for decades. Texas is coming off its best season since 2009, as the Longhorns finished 12-2 with their last loss to Washington in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

Saban acknowledged Texas’ confidence over the years, as it now appears to be approaching an all-time high. The seven-time National Champion, with his first coming in Alabama (second overall) against Texas in that aforementioned 2009 season, assured the Longhorns that the SEC is not theirs yet.

“What I like is how (the media) asks these questions about how Texas has always run the conference that they’ve been in … they’re not going to run the SEC,” Saban said. “There’s a lot of areas and places in the SEC, so you can forget about all that. They’re going to be a great team with a great program and (head coach Steve Sarkisian) is going to do a great job, but that’s not going to be a problem.”

The Crimson Tide and Texas have faced off in a home-and-away format for the past two seasons, with the away team winning each game. Alabama won 20-19 on Sept. 10, 2022, and Texas won 34-24 on Sept. 9, 2023.

These two teams won’t play each other during the upcoming regular season, but they could face off in the College Football Playoff’s new 12-team format after it had a four-team landscape for the first 10 years of the BCS era. Saban also spoke about the new format on Monday, but offered some suggestions for how coaches should approach it.

“I’m all for the 12-team Playoff,” Saban said. “I think the fans want to see the best 12 teams. You can be 11th or 12th and get knocked out by someone who’s not in the top 12, so I don’t like that, but the key for coaches this year is how much depth do you have on your team. How are you going to get your team through more games, play a tougher schedule in most cases, and sustain that performance so that at the end of the season in November and December you’re playing your best football and sustain that in the Playoff. That’s going to be the biggest challenge, I think, for most coaches.”

That said, coaches can only do so much if the players are the ones who are on the field within the numbers. The additions to the playoffs mean that there are multiple legitimate contenders at the start of the season. Saban explained that coaches need to instill in players early on that they need to be prepared for a longer season.

“I think the maturity of your team is important because younger players have a harder time staying focused,” Saban said. “So if you have an older, more experienced team that knows how to take care of themselves and get through the season, I think you have a better chance of sticking it out.”

Saban has always been open about the importance of leadership in players. He discussed how the new College Football Playoff format requires more discipline within the team throughout the season and that captains need to control their teammates.

“People talk about leadership, but the other side of leadership is how the people on the team respond to it: Are the players really going to bed early, are they eating right, are they hydrating enough, are they training the right way so that they can make consistent improvements? All of those things have a lot to do with how you maintain your performance throughout the season,” Saban said.