Nick Saban has been giving out a lot of "worsts" lately. Saban referred to the Tide win over Western Kentucky on Saturday as maybe his worst win "ever". Now with Ole Miss approaching Saban has declared that last years loss to the Black Bears may have been his worst game of any kind while at Alabama.
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"We didn't do so well in the rematch last year against these guys. Probably the worst game we've played here for a long time," Saban said. "Turned the ball over five times, gave up three explosive plays on defense on mental errors. These are the types of things the emphasis has to be on, if you make those plays, you're going to struggle.
"Everybody has to focus on doing my job and doing it with toughness, but I can't get so emotional that I make bad decisions about what my responsibility and what my job is."
One thing Saban is looking to see done differently over last year heading into Ole Miss is steering the focus away from revenge and towards commitment.
"Emotion doesn't last in a game," Saban said. "Character, want-to, commitment to what you're doing, playing for 60 minutes, one play at a time is the mindset you want. I hope our players understand that's what we need."
"Creating a bunch of anxiety with players is not the best way to go when it comes to being able to perform well," he said. "I think we were pretty anxious in the game last year, and it sure didn't help us play very well. Hopefully, we won't have anxiety. We'll have motivation and go with a sense of purpose and stay focused on that sense of purpose for 60 minutes."
Alabama players for the most part are buying into this message, preferring focus over emotion. We'll find out Saturday just how much a difference that will make.
