"Anyone who doesn't win their conference has no business playing in the national championship game." Nick Saban, Alabama (12/8/03)
Not that it will have any effect on Alabama's chances of playing in the championship game, but this just goes to show you that, in the age of the internet, everything a public figure says is encapsulated in ink on the web.
I would love it if the voters used this against him though.
Wow, thank you for this
Trouble is that my roommate
Trouble is that my roommate (an LSU fan who really doesn't want to face Bama again) spent a good bit of time researching this quote, and was unable to find an actual source for it. Until someone finds a newspaper, etc. reporting this, I am treating it as spurious.
Now with 100% less South Bend, 100% more Washington DC.
Ahhh so Steve Spurier said
Ahhh so Steve Spurier said it...
Semper Fidelis
Pay site, but from Jan 2004.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Anyone+who+doesn't+win+their+conference+...
"They're stuck with that quarterback (sophomore Braxton Miller) for the next two or three years, that's fine with me. He throws worse than (Tim) Tebow. - Steve Everitt
The plot thickens?
Wow - I can't imagine why your post was at (-1, Flamebait) when I got here, but this is very interesting. Quick, somebody pay to see this - The Internet is very curious to see if it pans out.
So it comes up on google to a
So it comes up on google to a wikipedia article (presumably with an external link) and a St. Louis newspaper (which says the article is archived). Upon clicking on the wiki article, I can't find it in there. It's kind of weird.
The writer was Bryan Burwell, but I still can't find the story.
University of Tom Brady, B.A. '10; University of Peyton Manning, J.D. '13.
Looking through the records
Looking through the records on LexisNexis, doesn't seem to exist. There are only three articles that mention Saban by Burwell, and only one that has a quote, and he has a couple of quotes about the BCS system, but nothing for that exact quite.
"Use some kind of system that you call the BCS, or whatever, that takes four teams or eight teams," Saban said. "But I think it's important to keep the bowl system that we have right now. . . . You know I have a tremendous respect for the system that we have . . . (but) the system is not equipped to handle three teams at the top, and that was the case this year." - from Burwell's 1/4/2004 column
Other quotes from around the same time from the St.L P-D.
"But until you have a playoff, which I've never been in favor of, you'll never really know for sure which are the best teams that should be playing for the championship." from Stu Durando's article on 12/28/03
LSU coach Nick Saban said, "I don't think anyone will know who the legitimate national champion is unless all three teams in consideration get the opportunity to play one another." from Josh Dubow's AP article on 12/8/03
So internet skepticism comes out on top.
the crowds on the shore will always yell "Let's Go Blue."
Didn't even think of using
Didn't even think of using Lexis. Good job with that. I'm more of a Westlaw guy haha
University of Tom Brady, B.A. '10; University of Peyton Manning, J.D. '13.
Internet quotes
Close. That was
Close. That was Aristotle.
University of Tom Brady, B.A. '10; University of Peyton Manning, J.D. '13.
I thought it was Plato who
I thought it was Plato who said this?
Well now we have to analyze
Well now we have to analyze whether we are dealing with the more Socratic dialogues from Plato or more of his Platonic dialogues where he was using Socrates more as the figure or symbol to express his ideas. This could lead us into a very lengthy and stimulating analysis on the merits of scholarly interpretation of the works of Plato. Methinks saved for a better time.
"The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates.
What?
So what if LSU loses to Georgia? Two teams in the championship -neither a conference champ.
what??? the winner of the
what??? the winner of the championship game is the champion... I don't understand what you are asking.
edit: okay, I understand now and you bring up a good point. If LSU loses to Georgia, LSU or Alabama shouldn't play for the MNC, but they probably will anyway... Go Georgia!!!
No
Bad Go Georgia. We want them to lose so we can move up into the top 14. Go LSU!
Class of '97. Missed it by that much.
Mr. Saban
Politics awaits.
Coaches poll
It will be interesting to see if his final coaches poll ballot follows this.
"A flute with no holes is not a flute. A donut with no hole is a danish"
Let alone their own DIVISION-
within the conference!!!
By the way- CAN OSU PLAY IN A BOWL THIS YEAR???
O-Fo-Sho
the web isn't written in ink
the web isn't written in ink unless you print it out, and it would take a long time to print out the whole web.
"Real n*gg*z do real things." -Braylon Edwards
lol yeah. I meant proverbial
lol yeah. I meant proverbial ink, but point taken.
University of Tom Brady, B.A. '10; University of Peyton Manning, J.D. '13.
I tried...
to print the internet once. I got to page 446 but ran out of paper.
Pretty sure thats not a real
Pretty sure thats not a real quote...
COYS and lets go Detroit FC!
Nuck Fick Saban
Nuck Fick Saban
www.eatacheeseburger.blogspot.com Brian Cook has read this blog!
Ced Redar Bessage Moard.
Ced Redar Bessage Moard.
"I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy."
Recent convert from East Lansing?
Welcome aboard! We do have some rules, though...
--
"the team, the team, the team."
For some reason, this thread
For some reason, this thread reminded me of Craig James...
why? Does Nick Saban kill
why? Does Nick Saban kill hookers too?
www.eatacheeseburger.blogspot.com Brian Cook has read this blog!
Nick Saban killed
5 hookers at MSU?!?!
Yep, that's Simba made out of a pineapple.
No, only his players did
No, only his players did that.
Special Teams means special times!
While it's always a topic
While it's always a topic worth discussing, what does killing 5 hookers have to do with this?
Edit: beaten to the punch...
Edit: beaten to the punch...
-
SEC coaches lie to benefits themeselves? Shocking.
"I tried to but a pencil in the light socket but it was too wide and didn't fit so I used a paperclip."-Terrelle Pryor, Future Rhodes Scholar
Meyer in 2006
In regards to a UM/OSU rematch in the NC game:
“If that really does happen, it’s over. All the presidents need to get together immediately and put together a playoff system.”
I think he made the exact counter argument in 2008.
And that's why this T-shirt
And that's why this T-shirt exists. I was worried I wouldn't be able to wear it in Knoxville anymore once he left Florida, but I'm glad I'll be able to bust it back out in Ann Arbor!
University of Tom Brady, B.A. '10; University of Peyton Manning, J.D. '13.
Super-Questionable
I absolutely do think a bunch of SEC fans and media people have reversed themselves on the whole "you have to win your conference to play in the National Championship" idea, but I really doubt the veracity of this supposed Saban quote. The only place anyone has found it mentioned by even a secondary source is Wikipedia, and the edit history (hoorayyyy, edit history!) makes it clear that someone - logged in from Oklahoma State's campus - fabricated an unfortunately-unlinkable citation for that quote (no way some Okie Stater was carrying around a newspaper clipping from 8 years ago), this morning.
That Saban quote is clearly made up
Beyond it being pointed out no one could source it, why would he have said it? On Dec 7, 2003 (i.e., the day before this supposed quote), Saban's team (LSU) moved up to #2 in the BCS rankings - the final rankings before the bowl games. His team was already in the championship! He didn't need to lobby in the press, a la Urban Meyer in 2006.
Knowing how much Saban hates talking to the media, why would he provide HUGE locker room material for his opponent in the upcoming BCS game, Oklahoma (who was #1 even though it lost the BIg 12 title game the week prior), by badmouthing them?
I really don't like Saban, but that's a complete BS quote.
Link for BCS rankings in 2003 (go to page 8, to see the last rankings, on Dec 7, 2003):
http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/pdf/bcs_2003.pdf
It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, is just progress.
Oklahoma had lost the day
It's possible that the date is just off by a bit. It could have occurred before the final rankings came out and Saban was nervous that his team was going to get left out by a team that hadn't won their own conference. Just because the date isn't necessarily accurate, doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
The date matters
Why would the date "be off by just a bit"? He either said it or he didn't. In any case, the reason a coach would say stuff in the media (again, using 2006 as an example) is you need the media's help in getting the human voters to switch your position - as worked when Florida went from #4 to #2, leapfrogging Michigan. Meyer was working the media all week leading up to the SEC championship game and voters bought his argument about there not needing to be a rematch with OSU against a non-conference champion.
Why would Saban on Dec 8th (or 7th, for that matter) come out with a quote disparaging Oklahoma when the human polls were not LSU's problem? The human polls (which came out on Dec 7th) had LSU at #2. Is Saban trying to use mind control over the computers?
It's much more likely Pete Carrol (who was at #1 in the AP and Coaches poll) would have said this quote - his team is the one that got screwed.
It's always possible anybody said anything, but until someone links to a reputable source, it's BS.
Link to Dec 7th poll:
http://www.fanblogs.com/ncaa/003993.php
It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, is just progress.
If quotes can be attributed
If quotes can be attributed to the wrong speaker, then the date can be wrong as well. And he could have been trying to put down Oklahoma so the human voters were dropping them farther than the #3 that they fell too, which would've helped his cause. Another reason he might say this is so people would be on his side if his team got screwed, and maybe something would change in the future. There is a lot that could've happened that you're refusing to see.
Here's what I don't see
...an actual source for this "quote" beyond an edited WIkipedia page or a team message board like tigerdroppings.com. Until that proven source exists, anything that "could've happened" doesn't matter - there is zero proof it did, and this quote remains extremely suspect.
It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, is just progress.
This was about to be my
This was about to be my favorite thing ever, but then you assholes had to tell me it wasn't an actual quote.
Special Teams means special times!
It will be easier
It will be easier to find Gary Danielson quotes from his calling the 2006 SEC Championship game complaining about a rematch and non-conference championship winners in the BCS title game. His campaigning was almost as bad as Meyer's.
Yeah, But...
I typically won't look for Gary Danielson quotes unless I am REALLY stuck for things to do, and even then only after I've attempted to sever my own Achilles.
"Funny isn't it, how naughty dentists always make that one fatal mistake."
Follow the random tweets of a Michigan alum - http://twitter.com/#!/LorneEC3
One more step closer to a true D1 playoff
We shouldn't be surprised anymore that many coaches will say (and sadly do) nearly anything if they believe it would help their personal careers, their immediate team, and lastly their conference. The days of Bo sincerely stating that his primary goal each year was winning the Big Ten are long gone. One might as well be talking about the days when the earth was still cooling and there was only one continent and one conference, the Pangean Football League.
Sadly what will finally push this over will be politics. This year already saw two US senators interject themselves into whether one school or another (West Virginia and Louisville - two schools which are not even regularly mentioned in any dicussion of the MNC) would included in some conference re-alignment. The scenario will be some school with huge money PAC donors will have a good team and they'll get screwed by the current BCS scenario. Those money interests will squawk to their political interests in Washington which will threaten the NCAA with some interstate commerce restraint of trade and monopoly investigation - then we'll finally see some action for a true D1 playoff like what is done for D2 and D3.
Ironic... Spoke a little too
Ironic... Spoke a little too soon on that one. GEAUX TIGERS!!!
"When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing."
It happens to be logic that I completely agree with.
Janeane Garofalo (Film Actors Guild): "As actors it is our responsibility to read the newspaper, and then say what we read on television like it's our opinion"