Jumbo Package: Nick Saban focused on execution, not Auburn voodoo

Happy Tuesday, everyone. Nick Saban spoke on Monday as usual and, despite a few high profile incidents, he isn’t entertaining any of your Jordan-Hare voodoo talk.

“You know, people talk about all the crazy stuff that happens in this game, but since I’ve been here, the team that should’ve won the game, won the game, based on who played the best,” Saban said.

“So I think the focus needs to be on how are we going to play and how are we going to execute and do what we do, and what kind of consistency are we going to be able to maintain in the difficult environment.”

It should give Alabama some confidence that it played well on the road in its most recent road test at Kentucky earlier this month. Still, there’s no denying that Auburn has given Alabama issues at home in recent years.

“We’ve had this challenge several times before, and this one’s going to be just as difficult as any of the rest,” Saban said.

That is, of course, the right message to the team.

Nick was also asked about his friendship with Hugh Freeze.

“I’ve always been a guy that has a lot of respect for coaches and what we do to try to promote our game and how we try to impact young people as players. I think you can have a relationship with somebody and still compete like crazy when you play against each other, but it’s really not personal,” Saban explained. “The outcome of the game is really not personal, you’re doing the best you can to get your team to play the best and I respect that as a coach, and we’re gonna do the best we can to get our team to play their best as a coach and hopefully people respect that.”

Saban holds a 3-2 record over Freeze when the two used to square off during Freeze’s five-year tenure as the head coach of Ole Miss. And even though Freeze will now be sporting the navy and orange that Crimson Tide fans despise, Saban is sure that nothing will be personal.

“But at the end of the day, does it have to effect your relationship? I don’t think so. I don’t think you have to dislike somebody or have an adversarial relationship with somebody to actually compete against them,” Saban concluded.

It certainly seems like an odd pairing. Besides his obvious indiscretions, Hugh is a thin-skinned weasel who has been known to search his own name on social media and defend his personal brand.

He’s just.... weird and sleazy. I’m surprised that Miss Terry stands for that friendship.

Nick wasn’t taking the bait on whether Auburn is more dangerous after paying NMSU $1.85M to beat them.

“I can’t answer that,” Saban said. “I just can’t answer that. You’d be better served to ask them that question. I think everybody pays attention when things don’t go well, and they want to get it right. I have enough respect, and we have enough respect, that they’ll probably do the same.”

They’ve been few, but Alabama has suffered tough losses under Saban before. In 2007, his first season in Tuscaloosa, the Tide lost to Louisiana-Monroe.

That loss didn’t do enough to wake Alabama up, and UA went to Auburn and lost 17-10 the next week. Freeze and company will look to avoid a similar result this week against a Crimson Tide team that will be heavily favored.

You can watch the entire press conference below, should you so desire.

Malachi Moore spoke as well, and he seems locked in.

On Monday, Alabama safety Malachi Moore admitted he didn’t wait the entire time to start thinking about Auburn. In fact, he barely waited at all.

“I’m not gonna lie, I watched their game this past Saturday as soon as I got home,” Moore said. “And then after that, later that night, I had started watching their offense, Saturday night. So nah, I ain’t listen to the 24-hour rule.”

Moore is an Alabama native. He’s well-versed in how important the Iron Bowl is across the state.

Travaris Robinson is on our side now, but don’t think the players don’t know where he played.

“Oh yeah, definitely. That’s definitely coming this week. But yeah, T-Rob, he’s been doing a great job. He never lets us get too high on ourself. He’s always coaching us hard, always telling us that we can do this better or do that better, but he’s also our biggest cheerleader,” Moore said on Monday.

“I think the biggest thing that he’s done is he’s helped us learn a lot of offensive concepts, offensive formations, how the offense is going to attack you, getting extra work with our technique, coaching us up on our technique, just being a really good overall coach for us. We enjoy T-Rob a lot, but we’re definitely going to be trash-talking him this week, the whole week.”

Last, the Eagles knocked off the Chiefs in Arrowhead last night, and guess who made the key play?

Everyone is talking about a Chiefs player dropping Saint Mahomes’ pass, but nobody is talking about this elite catch from Smitty that put the Chiefs behind to begin with.

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.