re: Bama Football Tidings

quote:

---

Former College GameDay analyst Sam Ponder has spent many days inside Nick Saban's oval office at the University of Alabama, picking the all-time great's brain about football and his mindset on how to build a championship program.

Now serving as host of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, Ponder doesn't often to get to many college games these days, but has kept a close eye on the SEC's behemoth, especially after January's disappointing loss to Clemson.

“I've spent a lot of time in Tuscaloosa and there’s one expectation — win the natty and that’s it,” Ponder said during Wednesday's appearance on Get Up!. “They’re not satisfied with winning SEC Championship. They’ve been there, done that. They’ve been at this stage.

"Right now, it’s natty or nothing.”

With obvious unfinished business on the horizon entering the 2019 campaign, the Crimson Tide have motivation to succeed, an element Alabama lacked last fall leading to a shift in attention to detail, Saban has pointed out through the offseason.

Likely the No. 2 team in next week's preseason Associated Press Top 25, Alabama is the only program to appear in every Playoff since its inception and is trying to win its sixth national championship during Saban's tenure. The journey begins vs. Duke on Aug. 31 inside Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a venue the Crimson Tide hope to return to four months down the road.

“Their season starts Dec. 7 in the SEC Championship Game,” ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said on Wednesday's show. "They should be in the College Football Playoff and they should be in the national title game. I can’t recall a time when a Nick Saban team got physically whopped on the field. I think they’re going go back in time a little bit. I think they’re going to go back to dominating the ground game.

"They want their offensive line to be the face of the program in a way. Nick Saban built this program with big back sides, ya know? I think they want to go back to that. They’re going to pound the football. I could see them not being as spread and pass-happy. I don't think Nick Saban wants to play ball like that.”

Orlovsky's comments on Alabama's renewed focus on running the football is an interesting take following the arrival of offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who replaces Mike Locksley as play-caller following the Crimson Tide's record-setting output offensively last fall.

The program's depth in the backfield took a hit last week when it was announced five-star freshman Trey Sanders was likely done for the season, but Najee Harris, Brian Robinson and several others are more than capable of putting Alabama back on the map as one of the country's best teams on the ground.

It's hard to imagine reigning Heisman runner-up Tua Tagovailoa simply being relegated to a game-manager role, however. He is the most prolific single-season pass in program history and is surrounded by arguably the most talented core of wide receivers during Saban's tenure.

---