After a fantastic win against Wisconsin in week three, Nick Saban sent Kalen DeBoer a message.
You realize Wimp Sanderson was smarter the older he gets. No, really. That is an honorific. He was the best basketball coach in Alabama history for the longest period of time because he knew what it takes to succeed in any sport. He gained this knowledge not just from working with his former Crimson Tide teammate, C.M. Newton, but also from watching Alabama football’s all-time great, Bear Bryant.
Sanderson avoided making the formula unduly complex. He claimed that the three essential components were coaching, scheduling, and recruiting.
Nick Saban was aware of this. Among those all-encompassing foundations, he was never given enough credit for the brilliant scheduling of Alabama football throughout his rule. And an homage to that wily old fox of an AD, Mal Moore. The Name Game was the main component of their plan.
The plan was to set up a yearly non-conference opponent with a strong reputation for street cred. State of Florida. Michigan. Penn State. Miami. And so on, so forth, so on. Mostly play them at a neutral venue, but mix in a home-and-home now and then. Better still, if you can catch them when their reputation precedes them rather than when they play.
There’s no better moment than now to dissect this, as Alabama is about to play in its first Name Game under Kalen DeBoer. At one of the greatest traditions in college football, the kids “Jump Around” between the third and fourth quarters at Wisconsin on Saturday morning. It will be another SEC/Big Ten matchup.
When these clubs last faced off, it was at Jerry World in Arlington, Texas, to start the 2015 campaign. Derrick Henry, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, portrayed the Terminator. The Tide surged out to a 35-17 victory over the Badgers to start their national title campaign.
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