TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -Nick Saban knows Southeastern Conference teams do have some margin for error when it comes to competing for a national championship.
A loss? It’s survivable. Two? The breaks can still fall your way.
Still, Alabama’s coach cringes at the mere possibility, however improbable, that either his team or No. 7 Virginia Tech could drop from the national title picture with an opening loss Saturday night.
“Now we’re talking about first game of the season, you’re out of it,” Saban, who advocates a more forgiving playoff or plus-one system, said Monday. “It’s horrible. It’s a horrible thought for any team to be out of anything after one game.”
The matchup at the Georgia Dome before Labor Day even arrives hardly seems like make-or-break for either team. No. 5 Alabama still has an SEC schedule to play in a league that has produced three consecutive national champions without a perfect season.
ina and Miami.
But the Crimson Tide got a clear picture of the potential risk-rewards of starting with such a marquee opponent last season. This time it’s Virginia Tech. Then it was No. 9 Clemson in the Dome.
Alabama won and eventually went from unranked to No. 1. Clemson lost and wound up with a coaching change.
“Last year we won the game and it gave our team a lot of confidence,” Saban said. “I’ve been with teams that get beat in the first game and that’s exactly what they need. Then they play very, very well the rest of the year.
“I think playing against a good team certainly gets everybody’s attention and it lets you know the standard that you need to be playing to.”
Then there’s the flip side. Tommy Bowden can speak to that.
The now former Clemson coach said last year’s defeat “started the ball rolling toward my dismissal.”
“Nationally televised game. Nationally ranked. We lose the game,” Bowden said during the summer. “And then it starts heading downhill and you can’t stop it. Surely that was the start of my departure.”
Bowden thinks Virginia Tech will heed that lesson – and use it.
“Not that Frank Beamer needs to but they’ll say, ‘All right we went down there as a conference and got embarrassed,”’ he said. “I think they’ll respond probably better than we did.”
benefits, but doesn’t expect a loss to be crippling for the season.
“A win over a great program as good as Alabama would definitely be a big thing for Virginia Tech and the ACC,” he said. “The other side of it, it doesn’t make your season either way. If you beat Alabama you still have games to play, and if you lose to Alabama you still have games to play. You go out there and play the best you can, and hopefully you have some success. You will see how you are as a football team and improve from there.”
It might not seem like the ideal time for the Tide to face such a difficult opener. Quarterback Greg McElroy, tailback Mark Ingram and three starting offensive linemen will be making their first college starts. Plus, there’s still some question about the status of Ingram and star receiver Julio Jones dating back to a fishing trip that they took courtesy of an Athens businessman in the spring. The university has said the businessman wasn’t a Tide booster and there were no NCAA violations, and forwarded the findings on to the SEC.
Asked if there was any word on Ingram and Jones’ status, Saban said: “Not at this point.”
That potential issue aside, Alabama players insist they’re approaching this like “just another game.” Cornerback Javier Arenas said doing otherwise would be counterproductive.
king too much into something. We aren’t trying to think about all that external stuff, how many people are going to be there, what if we don’t win, what if they take off the roof of the Dome and it’s windy. You’ve just got to think about going out there and playing.”
Middle linebacker Rolando McClain does his best to stay cloistered from the hype. He doesn’t click on Facebook so much, tries to dodge phone calls and just generally avoids overeager fans around campus.
“I don’t really get caught up in it,” McClain said. “I try to avoid as many people as I can on campus. Obviously this is Tuscaloosa. We’re a huge football town. I know they’re eager just like we’re eager, but I try to stay away from them.
“Of course, I’m hyped but at the same time you’ve got to be mellow.”
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