“That’s not how it’s done anymore.”

There is something wonderful about an Alabama head coach gently lecturing another school about trying to claim a national championship.

“If you honor and respect the system that we have, (despite) some of the imperfections that you understand that the system has, then you wouldn’t do something out of respect for the system that we have,” Saban told USA TODAY Sports. “I guess anybody has the prerogative to claim anything. But self-proclaimed is not the same as actually earning it. And there’s probably a significant number of people who don’t respect people who make self-proclaimed sort of accolades for themselves.”

I mean, who doesn’t love them some college football traditions?

Alabama claims 17 national championships, including some that are disputed and several claimed retroactively.

Can’t say I’m particularly sympathetic to Central Florida here, but, damn, Nick, your team won, okay?  There’s no need to pontificate about it.

29 Comments

Filed under Alabama, It's Not Easy Being A Mid-Major

29 responses to ““That’s not how it’s done anymore.”

  1. OurADisAGlorifiedBoatAnchor

    It’s beneath him to discuss it.

    My response would me “let them have their fun. It’s cute.”

    And that would be the end of it

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  2. Oh I’m with Saban… If Georgia had pulled the game out, I would quickly grow tired of Central Florida’s BS.

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    • Gaskilldawg

      If Sanders had intercepted that last pass I wouldn’t give a shit what UCF said.

      The CFP is not a real NCAA championship anyway. It is the throphy every team, including UCF, really wants, however, and it would be at Butts Mehre. Nothing UCF does could remove the etch of UGA on it.

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      • 81Dog

        This x 1000.

        Give me CFP trophy, and anyone else who wants to claim anything else can smooch my Bulldog glues. In fact, this is how I actually feel about AU fans who grumble about how they outscored us in total last year. I don’t GARA if they outscored us by 3 million, we are the SEC champs.

        For Nick to reflexively whine about UCF is just OCD/stupid. You won, Nick. Who gives a damn what a bunch of goober people in Orlando think?

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  3. Nick thinks he’s the expert on everything. He seems to be saying this as a way to defend the fact his team made the playoff without winning the division in his conference (to respect the system … the one the Power 5 designed with the WWL). If we had won, UCF would have no claim whatsoever to a national title.

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    • Mayor

      As I understand it UCF claims it is national champion because it was the only undefeated team at the end of the season plus it had beaten Auburn which had beaten both Georgia and Bama– the two teams in the NCG. So even if the Dawgs had won the game against Bama UCF would be making the same claim.

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      • Erk's Forehead

        But we beat Auburn when it counted. So. UCF would have a more difficult argument with us.

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        • 81Dog

          Losers always want to rewrite the story to make themselves win. Screw UCF and AU, if we won the CFP. OR, now.

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    • gastr1

      I don’t think he thinks he’s the expert. He thinks he has to constantly promote and defend by turns. And it just never stops in his obsessive mind, and by extension, for us.

      He’s awful. I’ll be happy when he’s no longer coaching–not because his teams are good, but because he’s bad for the game because of who he is and how he acts (publicly anyway).

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      • Macallanlover

        “He’s awful.” Seriously, where is this coming from? I admit, he can be a jerk on a personal basis, and he may not be among to top game day coaches in the business, but he is clearly one of the very top head coaches to ever be in CFB, if not the best. His positions on some isolated issues may not match your own, but he is always pretty damned reasonable, and logical. As a whole, he has achieved at the highest level while running a pretty clean program, in a time where scrutiny is at an all time high. Hard to not see him as excellent in many/most criteria, seems you are the one who is a very, very small island in that characterization.

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        • Russ

          Yeah, I agree. He doesn’t really bother me, and I find his rants amusing. He’s a typical Type A that obsesses over every detail. It takes all kinds. I’m glad we now have our own Type A.

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        • Uglydawg

          Agree, Mac. And I believe he is the greatest CFB Head Coach ever. But let’s hope we can call him “second best” after a few more years of Kirby.

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        • Erk's Forehead

          Do you need some tissue to cleanup from your Saban love?

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          • Uglydawg

            LOL..not “love” but respect..Saban is the most accomplished coach in at least the modern era. I don’t like it, but it’s just true. SOS is close to the top (top 5 for sure) and I can’t stand him. You don’t have to love someone to respect their accomplishments.

            Liked by 1 person

            • Erk's Forehead

              If I were a GM and had to choose a HC to game plan the same caliber players, I’d choose SOS everytime over Saban. Saban is not a great gameday coach. Which is why he sucked in the NFL. He just recruits the best players.

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  4. Hogbody Spradlin

    Bama won the Southeast Jefferson County Correspondents Association National Championship in 1951 and 1952, so there.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Uglydawg

    If ever losing a game made a fan base happy, Auburn’s loss (toss?) to UCF has to be it.

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    • Uglydawg

      and by (toss?), I’m not implying intentional gifting, I’m saying that AU was sleep walking. They just weren’t all that interested.. We could say AU had little to gain and nothing to loss. And aside from UCF’s claims being the equivalent of a pesky fly that Alabama has to keep swatting, nothing was gained, the loss hurt Auburn a little and Alabama a very little.

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      • ASEF

        Auburn’s best defensive player sat out UCF to preserve himself for the draft. To say the team was done for the season after the SEC Championship game would be an understatement.

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      • Gaskilldawg

        No, UCF is not a pesky fly Alabama has to keep swatting. Very few people outside of UCF boosters give a shit about UCF’s claim. If Saban feels a need to deal with it, that is on him and not UCF. Saban has the ugly throphy. He should enjoy it.

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        • Uglydawg

          Very few people besides the person being pestered by a fly GAS about it. Saban is swatting. That’ the premise of this thread. What Saban said, who he said it to and why he even bothered. He was swatting, not killing, UCF, a mere fly to him, and it was pestering him or he wouldn’t bother. It’s now the middle of May and apparently it’s still buzzing around his head.

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  6. Bob

    Alabama has a ton of National Championships. But more than a few are bogus and yet they have no shame in claiming them. The 1941 team was ranked 14th by the AP and finished 3d in the SEC. Not only that, forget that luck of the Irish thing. Bama in 64 lost to Texas in Orange Bowl but Polls did not count bowl games and won title despite losing to Southwest Conference runners up while Arky was unbeaten. The next year, after the AP changed their rules, Michigan State and Arkansas lost on New Years Day and Bama beat Nebraska to jump from 4 to 1. They had lost to Georgia in the flea flicker game and tied the Vols. In 73 they lost to Notre Dame in Sugar Bowl but the coaches poll still did not consider bowl games. They changed the rules the following year. And of course, twice in the playoff era the Tide has failed to even win their division, but been granted dispensation.

    Alabama has clearly been the major power in the South and one of the top three or so programs in the nation. Yet they continue to claim those ridiculous titles from the 20s and 40s. Really, if they had any dignity at all they would simply shut up about UCF and ignore it. But then, that wouldn’t be Bama and its bandwagon fan base would it.

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  7. steve

    The Saban Radio Network sponsored by Coke, Mercedes Benz and Daddy Warbucks. The more attention he gets the more his sponsors shiver.

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  8. Opelikadawg

    The easiest way to get in a fight in Alabama is to tell a bammer that they don’t really have all 17 of those championships.

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    • Jared S.

      The easiest way to get in a fight in Alabama is talk about white privilege.

      …. and for anyone who just felt the crimson rise from their neck to their forehead I guess I’ve kind of proved my point with you.

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