Saturday night’s match up pits two powers and college football’s coaching master against one of his many apprentices
HEAD coaches occupy a special place in college football as while players spend a short few years at their university coaching careers can last into the decades.
Unlike professional football where coaches must handle stars with big contracts the power dynamics at the collegiate level, however unfair, mean it is the coaches who hold the multi-million dollar contracts and sway over their amateur players.
The problematic nature of the imbalances aside college coaches are truly able to build teams in their image. Not only will a successful coach stay in post for longer than players study at the institutions but they recruit the best, or best available, high school talent.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban (pictured above) is probably the most successful of the current head coaches, with some considering him potentially the greatest in college football history, and his six national championships make compelling evidence.
The first, in 2003, came with LSU and was followed shortly afterwards by three unsuccessful seasons as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins – his only top job in the pros.
In 2007 he took over at Alabama and set about restoring the Crimson Tide’s reputation as one of the most dominant teams in college football.
His first national championship with ‘Bama came in 2009 and more followed in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017 with the team always in the the playoff discussion. 2019 was the first time, since the introduction of the playoff in 2014, Alabama had missed out on semi-final selection after losing their SEC crown to LSU.
It would be easy to think Saban is undisputedly Alabama’s greatest head coach but as a school with a long history, in a sport built on tradition, that is an unresolved argument.
Among those to have led the Crimson Tide before him is Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant who also has six national championships which all came during his 25 year tenure at the University of Alabama.
It’s unlikely college coaches will continue to enjoy such long careers as those who mostly took retirement in the 1980s but it doesn’t appear Saban, who turns 69 on Halloween, is likely to retire anytime soon.
And even if he did his influence will still be felt across the sport as so many head coaches at other colleges are former Saban assistants. That includes some of Alabama’s most fierce rivals such as Georgia who travel to Tuscaloosa for this Saturday night’s prime time game.
The Bulldogs are led by head coach Kirby Smart who worked under Saban at LSU and followed him to the NFL and Alabama, where he rose to defensive coordinator, with his mentor also a famed defensive coach.
He returned to Georgia, where he’d played as a defensive back from 1995 to 1998, as head coach in 2016 having been Saban’s assistant head coach.
For the number three ranked Bulldogs to defeat number two Alabama however Smart must do something no other former Saban assistant has managed, defeat the master.
The Alabama head coach has an unbeaten 21-0 record against his former assistants which is something that will be constantly mentioned by the television commentators.
But Saban may not be present at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. He tested positive for coronavirus earlier in the week though following further negative tests it is now reported that Saban may have recorded a “false positive”.
That could potentially mean the coach will take his usual place on the sideline where he studiously observes the game with a camera fixed on him to catch the occasional eruption of anger or exasperation if a player betrays the personal discipline he installs in his teams.
Though Saban appears to be one of the few coaches who has strictly followed the rule on face coverings his health is an illustration of the difficulties facing the NCAA. It has attempted to play the season despite coronavirus and the football powerhouses of the SEC have been accused of placing the sport above health as one of the conferences that was always most determined to press ahead with the season.
Coronavirus is just one of many unusual elements so far this year which also saw Alabama became engaged a most un-Saban like shoot out against Ole Miss last Saturday night.
Though the Tide eventually ran out 63-48 winners Saban will not have enjoyed seeing the Rebels going toe to toe and matching Alabama score for score until eventually his defence regained some control to slow the unranked side down late in the fourth quarter.
However Bama host Georgia as the number one ranked offence while the Bulldogs are number one defensive side. The last four times the country’s number one offence has meet the top defence have been in the national championship game.
That Alabama has so much offensive fire power isn’t only a reflection of their strength in recruiting but of Saban’s adaptability and recognition that conservative offences are no longer enough in college football.
Quarterback Mac Jones has impressed leading the Alabama offence this season while Georgia’s attack is led by Stetson Bennett who only assumed the controls of the offence midway through this season’s opening game.
The player who had ‘walked on’ to the team in 2017, having enrolled at the university without a football scholarship, had been way down on the depth chart before being given the chance to kickstart a stuttering Bulldogs against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
An opening day victory secured, ‘The Mailman’ was confirmed as the starter and has since delivered wins over Auburn and Tennessee. If he cannot keep scoring pace with ‘Bama on Saturday then Georgia will be relying on its defence to stem the Tide and keep the Bulldogs in the fight.
Alabama and Georgia’s positions in the UK and Ireland media poll mirrors their standing in the AP Poll.
There is a limited number of games on BT Sport this weekend.
This week’s UK televised games
BT Sport ESPN
Saturday, October 17
9.30pm Texas A&M @ Mississippi State (join in progress)
Sunday, October 18
1am Georgia @ Alabama
Main image: @AlabamaFTBL
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