Colorado’s loss to the Stanford Cardinal was clearly a shocking failure for Deion Sanders’ players who blew their 29-point lead. While many took it as a blow to Colorado’s stature, Nick Saban took it as an opportunity to draw similarities with Alabama football.
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During his weekly appearance at the ‘Pat McAfee Show’, Nick Saban discussed Colorado versus Stanford matchup. He drew a comparison between the young players who are more susceptible to losing focus which leads to big blunders.
Nick Saban Compares Colorado’s Loss to Alabama’s Hard-fought Victory
Nick Saban has led the Alabama Crimson Tide for 17 seasons and is known for his masterful coaching. He has a traditional style focusing on each player’s overall skills as opposed to Coach Prime who overhauled his roster. In his appearance on the ‘Pat McAfee Show’, Saban took up the heart-wrenching meltdown suffered by Colorado. He compared the distracted Colorado players to his own team which struggled to achieve a victory against Arkansas, saying, “I think the Colorado game was a great example of what happened to us last week.”
Nick Saban discussed the details of Colorado’s game against Stanford which saw a decline in momentum of the former even after a considerable 29-point lead,
“Get ahead 29-0 in a game. Guys lose their mental intensity, their focus, and the game starts to change. The momentum swings, and you can’t get it back, so you have to learn how to sustain and grind through it and continue to impose your will so you never lose that.”
Saban talked about his way of dealing with failures and he detailed out his philosophy of perseverance rather than dwelling on the past.
“ I think that’s the great thing about being in competitive sports, you always have a next opportunity. You can look forward and take advantage of the opportunities that you have in the future and not dwell on the past.”
Nick Saban has led the Alabama Crimson Tide football for close to two decades. He has won six national championships. Alabama entered the 2022 season ranked No.1 in the nation and is riding high with a 7-1 record in the 2023 season.
Failure Important to Learn Valuable Lessons
Alabama HC Saban continued the conversation on a positive note, praising his team for showing resilience. However, he threw light on his concerns about the early success enjoyed by the players these days. According to Saban, it has become increasingly difficult for young players to deal with both failures and success with the kind of attention they receive.
“I think it’s actually more difficult in this day and age for players to deal with success. Most of the time when you have failures, people respond really really well. But sometimes when you are successful, it can be an enemy of how you stay focused and what you do to prepare.”
Nick Saban maintains that Deion Sanders is a great coach and he always roots for him. He has remained appreciative of Coach Prime even in the past. According to Saban, Sanders has displayed great skills in marketing, thus drawing national attention to the Colorado football program.
As of now, Alabama Crimson Tide stands 1st in the SEC while Colorado continues to struggle at the 8th place in the Pac-12. Only time will tell what becomes of these teams under two great coaches of college football.
