Nick Saban still got exactly what he wanted for Alabama Football

Alabama football head coach Nick Saban apologized for calling out Texas A&M and Jackson State, but don’t buy it. He’s not sorry and he got what he wanted. 

I don’t believe for a second that Nick Saban didn’t mean to say what he said in front of Alabama football boosters on Wednesday night.

What Saban did was intentional. Just like he “intentionally” complained about what the world of college football was coming to when star quarterback Bryce Young secured an NIL deal worth well over a million dollars.

Surely, that wasn’t an effort to announce to other potential recruits, both high schoolers and in the transfer portal, exactly what’s possible playing for Alabama football.

Saban of course is the best for a reason and it’s about much more than any sort of football genius. It’s not because he cares one iota about the rules. He doesn’t and his program has broken them repeatedly at Alabama or at least looked the other day. 

Nick Saban knows if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying

So get off the high horse Nick, you’re program has been ‘bending’ rules for quite some time. But in the SEC, if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.

Jimbo Fisher got offended by Saban’s comments because they are true. The Aggies pretty much are paying players to come there and while it might not be breaking any rules, it certainly violates the spirit of what NIL is supposed to be, however, A&M isn’t alone.

The Aggies also won’t be the last and that’s really the point Nick Saban was making to Alabama football boosters. He wasn’t crying about rule-breaking — he was complaining that Alabama football wasn’t breaking those same rules, at least not as aggressively.

It was his way of saying: if we don’t start doing what Texas A&M and others are doing then Alabama football isn’t going to be what it has been.

That was the true message and the true point of saying what he said. Maybe Saban went farther than he wanted and he probably regrets what he said specifically about Texas A&M and Deion Sanders, but is he sorry?

No. I don’t believe his half-hearted apology for a second. Saban is ruthless and calculated and he’ll wear his “warning” from the SEC as a badge of honor because the truth is, despite all the negative media attention, Alabama football will emerge as the winner from all of this.

And that’s what Saban intended all along, for his boosters to step up and do exactly what he complained about on Wednesday night.