Since Nick Saban arrived at Alabama, the Crimson Tide have been the class of college football. With another loaded roster Saban's biggest challenge may not be his fearsome SEC opponents, but the sheer weight of expectation.
At the SEC media day, Saban was inundated with questions of a potential three-peat, as well as comparisons to Alabama legend Bear Bryant. Saban scoffed at the notion he's in Bryant's league, saying, "I think Bear Bryant is probably the greatest coach in college football in terms of what he accomplished, what his legacy is. There's no way that we have done anything close to what he's done in terms of his consistency over time, how he changed what he did to impact the times."
Saban was also confronted with complaints by LSU head coach Les Miles that Alabama's road to the BCS National Championship is easier because of the SEC's conference breakdowns. Saban used the opportunity to take a dig at the mouthy Miles, saying:
"There can never be an equal path to the championship unless everybody plays everybody. I coached at LSU, so if anybody understands it, I understand it, you understand?"
Meanwhile, Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron discussed the perception of him as a caretaker in Alabama's brutally efficient offense, while his friend Johnny Manziel, who led a road upset of the Crimson Tide last season, won a Heisman Trophy and is the face of NCAA football.
"Now, when they mention my name, 'Game Manager' is my middle name and then they mention my last name," McCarron said. He was a counselor at the Manning Passing Camp, which Manziel was notoriously banished from after missing a session with an alleged hangover.
Manziel denied that, saying his cell phone battery died and he simply overslept, then left the camp because of dehydration.
McCarron stayed away from Johnny Football's controversy train, saying, "I can't answer on Johnny Manziel's part. My name is AJ. Everything that has to do with him, he's his own man. I'm not going to speak on another man's business. That's how I was raised. If it don't have nothing to do with you, don't speak on it."
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