Netflix, not football, on menu for Saban and wife
PASADENA, Calif. – There was no official word on whether Nick Saban will return as Alabama’s football coach after his team lost to Michigan 27-20 in overtime Monday in the Rose Bowl.
But Terry Saban, wife of the 72year-old coach, revealed her husband’s more immediate plans: watch a movie on Netflix rather than watching Texas play Washington in the second College Football Playoff semifinal game later than night.
Terry Saban greeted her husband with a hug and a few pats on the back after he finished his postgame press conference. They spoke too quietly to be heard, but Terry Saban told USA TODAY Sports this is how their conversation went:
Terry: “Do you want to watch the other football game?’’
Nick: “Not really.’’
Terry: “OK, let’s watch Netflix.’’ Terry Saban indicated she and Nick have been watching a foreign film. “It’s Turkish or something,’’ she said, adding that having to read the subtitles would be helpful for her husband.
“It completely gets your mind off of (the defeat),’’ she said.
She spoke to USA TODAY Sports while standing with a small group of people near the large tent where Nick Saban conducted his postgame interview. He did not address his plans for next season.
When USA TODAY Sports asked Terry if her husband would continue coaching, a young woman interjected.
“We’re not answering questions like that right now,’’ she said.
Saban on final play call
Nick Saban indicated the final play call of Alabama’s season came from his first-year offensive coordinator, Tommy Rees. It will not go down as one of the favorites in Alabama football history.
With Alabama facing fourth-andgoal at the Michigan 3-yard line in overtime, quarterback Jalen Milroe took the snap and ran up the middle. He gained a yard before Michigan defenders tackled and ended the game.
Michigan called timeout and then Alabama called timeout before the play was run.
“We called three plays,’’ Saban said. “One they called timeout, one we called timeout, and the last one that didn’t work. The fact that it didn’t work made it a really bad call. You know what I mean?
“But we called timeout because we had a bad look. We had a good look on the first one. They must have known it.”
Regardless, Rees wanted the ball in Milroe’s hands, according to Saban.
“Tommy just felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run, which was kind of our two-point play, one of our two-point plays for this game,’’ he said.
Bad snaps
Milroe and center Seth McLaughlin had almost four months to work out the quarterback-center exchange issues that plagued them from the start of the season. No luck.
With Milroe mostly operating out of the shotgun formation, McLaughin fired several off-target snaps.
Two came on back-to-back plays early in the third quarter, and the second one resulted in a sack and loss of 6 yards.
Milroe, asked after the game about the issue, said, “The quarterback and the center have to have a great relationship and that’s something that we tried to build throughout the whole season. There’s a multitude of things that me and Seth talk about in that regard. That’s something that we do talk about.”
McLaughlin, a senior, took over as the team’s starting center midway through the 2022 season.
Crimson Tide’s turnaround
Yes, Saban acknowledged, he was disappointed about the loss.
“But one thing that I told them in the locker room after the game, this is one of the most amazing seasons in Alabama football history in terms of where this team came from,” he said, “what they were able to accomplish and what they were able to do, winning the SEC championship, and really, really proud of this group.’’
Alabama’s season looked ready to unravel after a 34-24 loss to Texas in the second week of the season and an uninspiring 21-7 victory over South Florida in the third week. But the Crimson Tide changed the course of its season during an 11-game winning streak that culminated with a victory over Georgia in the SEC championship game.
Said Saban: “That’s why I think for me as a coach, maybe not for everybody else, it’s one of the teams that I’ll always remember the most and always be the most proud of.’’