Saban gets riled by talk of possible letdown for No. 5 Alabama against Florida International

Letdown? Subject gets Saban’s blood boiling

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Want to get Nick Saban riled? Get him to go on a nice long rant?

Ask him about the possibility of a letdown when No. 5 Alabama goes from an impressive win over No. 7 Virginia Tech to facing relatively unknown Florida International. That’s the kind of attitude Saban doesn’t want from players, fans or even the media.

“In no uncertain terms, you’re a typical fan,” Saban told a reporter Monday, his voice rising as he delivered a 3-minute answer. “That’s fine. But I respect the people that we’re playing. I respect our opponents. I want our players to respect our opponents. This guy No. 4 (FIU receiver T.Y. Hilton) is a better offensive player than anybody that we played against last week. You understand that? Whatever your perception is and what they ought to be, I don’t think it’s that. I don’t want our players to think that either.

“Fans can think that as much as you want. You create that perception, which just creates more problems for me because the players read the papers, too.”

Save that speech, coach. You might need a similar one again next week. The Crimson Tide (1-0) managed to overcome the hype for a Top 10 opening matchup — and some distractions during the week — with a 34-24 victory Saturday night over the Hokies.

The next challenges could come more in the head than on the field. Now, Alabama must get up for two Sun Belt Conference teams — FIU, which hasn’t played yet, and North Texas. The Tide is a 33-point favorite for Saturday’s home opener and figures to be in a similar spot the next week.

Saban doesn’t want his players’ approach to change, and pointed to a couple of NBA stars to get that point across.

“I don’t think Kobe Bryant cares who he plays against,” Saban said. “I don’t think LeBron James cares who’s guarding him when he’s playing. He’s trying to be the best player that he can be. That’s what we want our team to do. That’s what we want our individual players to do.”

Alabama didn’t quite manage that after last year’s opening win over then-No. 9 Clemson. The Tide managed just 172 total yards and John Parker Wilson was held to 73 yards passing in an uninspired 20-6 win over Tulane.

Lesson learned?

“I think we just came out flat that game,” said tailback Mark Ingram, the SEC offensive player of the week. “Coming off a big win, we came out flat. That was a learning experience for this team. You can’t take any team for granted. You’ve got to prepare for every team the same way.

“A lot of us learned that lesson last year, and we shouldn’t have a letdown this week.”

Saban figures there’s less chance of that happening if players follow his 24-hour rule. Which means reflect on the previous game for a day, then move on.

“I’ve been around teams before that you have a big win and it’s Thursday before they’re ready to start looking at the next game plan,” he said. “Well, that’s too late to prepare.”

Besides, Saban found plenty of things to work on from the opener. The defense only allowed 155 yards, but he didn’t sound particularly impressed.

“I think we responded extremely well to adversity in the game, even though some of that adversity was self-inflicted adversity,” he said. “I make no excuse to that relative to the first game, last game. We need to learn how to play hard. You can’t tolerate mistakes. We made lethal mistakes in this game that are all correctable. We have to quit doing that. We have play with more discipline.”

That’s not just about football, either. Linebacker Rolando McClain was penalized for a personal foul at the goal line and then whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he made contact with a referee. That set up Ryan Williams’ 1-yard touchdown run to give Virginia Tech a 17-16 lead.

Saban called that “self-indulgent behavior” because it can hurt the team and said McClain apologized to those involved and to the team at halftime.

“He’s the first guy that after the game came up to me and said, ‘I really messed up,’” Saban said. “I’m sure he feels worse about it than anybody.”