During SEC media days, Alabama head coach Nick Saban once again made his case for a rule to be implemented which would slow some of the uptempo offenses found around college football.
Saban cited injury concerns as well as a lack of player development and coaching as reasons why college football needs to slow the pace of these offenses.
Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez is having none of what Saban is selling.
“Cry me a river. No one comes to games to watch defensive coaches,” Rodriguez told ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy.
There are two positions which clearly exist within this bickering.
First and foremost, Saban sees uptempo play and lack of substitutions as a competitive advantage for teams that play at a major faster pace than most of the teams in the SEC. Meanwhile, those coaches who can’t recruit with the likes of Alabama simply see it as a way to even the playing field.
And, despite Rodriguez’s bold claim, Alabama is one of the most successful teams in college football with a defensive mastermind at the helm. Rodriguez may be an offensive genius, but the Arizona Wildcats are 16-10 the last two seasons and the coach has never led a team to a national championship game.
Nick Saban’s response to Rodriguez should be very simple — to paraphrase hockey great Patrick Roy — “I can’t hear what Rich is saying, because my ears are blocked with two of my four national championship rings.”
