Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban is no stranger to controversial takes, especially when it comes to his old team, the Alabama Crimson Tide. Unsurprisingly, Saban has not shied away from the SEC-ACC controversy, choosing instead to throw himself right in its center.
Saban’s take on the controversy has rubbed several college football personalities the wrong way. ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain was displeased with some of Saban’s comments on College GameDay, and he aired opinions directly aimed at Saban, intensifying the conflict.
Nick Saban Stirs Pot With ACC Comment
Saban is still looking out for his team in his own way. During ESPN’s College GameDay, Saban suggested that Alabama should still make the College Football Playoff, regardless of the outcome of the ACC Championship Game.
Saban’s comments are a reaction to speculations that the SMU Mustangs will make the playoffs despite their loss to the Clemson Tigers.
Unsurprisingly, Saban was not pleased with this idea.
The former Alabama coach has his own thoughts on the matter, and he did not hesitate to make them known: “Who did you beat? SMU, how many top-25 teams did they beat? How many top-25 teams did Alabama beat? And I don’t think that we want to go down the road with this whole playoff team where we enhance people for playing a weaker schedule to get more wins.
“Now, there’s four good teams in the ACC. But SMU played one of them, Miami played one of them. Nobody played those teams, so you can’t even evaluate it based on the good teams in their league,” Saban added.
“When you have three losses, that discussion is off the table for me.” @EricMacLain on why Miami should be in the College Football Playoff. pic.twitter.com/doLHJvrn62
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) December 8, 2024
SMU had one loss prior to the game vs. Clemson.
In Saban’s defense, SMU does not have a single win against a top-25 team, and their one loss was against 18th-ranked BYU. Meanwhile, Alabama has played four top-25 teams, including the Georgia Bulldogs, winning three of them.
Former Clemson Offensive Lineman Takes Issue With Saban’s Playoff Comment
Former Clemson Tigers offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain did not take kindly to Saban’s words. Mac Lain’s stance suggests that a team’s win-loss ratio should be the deciding factor for playoff consideration. He believes that a team with three losses should not be in the playoff conversation.
“Losing matters. If you are 1-10, 1-11, but you beat No. 1 Georgia, we don’t care. Losing is a part of it. If you have three losses, you are done, you are out.”
Mac Lain expanded on his comment, saying, “You have a 10-2 Miami team that lost to Georgia Tech that, by the way, took these guys (Georgia) at full strength to the wire, eight overtimes, a two-point decision earlier in the game from winning. A Syracuse team that’s ranked, that beat the team that Boise State just beat (UNLV) and did their thing, all these different things are playing in.”
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He further illustrated his point, comparing the Indiana Hoosiers to SEC teams with three losses.
“Let’s stick with the facts. Saying that who you beat, that is great and that’s important, if you’re 11-1 and you are Indiana. That matters. When you have three losses, that discussion is off the table for me.”
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