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HOOVER -- The SEC Media picked Alabama to win the SEC this season. Cheer, yell, scream! Congratulations, it's an honor to say that the media has been correct four out of the last 22 times. Yeah, Saban wasn't too happy about that.
Saban took the podium today to unleash some breaking news. Yeah, right. But even then, he was able to. I guess that's what happens when you're as successful as he is. The coach began with the announcement that a new grand baby would be on the horizon and he continued to talk about "young people."
He talked about violations and the lack of knowledge within young people. He talked about "adolescents disappointing him." And the underlying fact that he really spoke toward is that Kenyan Drake and Jarran Reed would be suspended. Not kicked off the team, though, and he had a reason for that.
Nick Saban on Kenyan Drake and Jarran Reed: Those players are suspended but NOT kicked off the team. #Bama
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 17, 2014
"When you have a family and you have someone in your family who disappoints you, we certainly can't kick them out of our family," said Saban in the most philanthropic way. "I think we have to try to support them, teach them, get them to do the right things because we love them, we care about them. We have some of those issues with our players."
He went on to say: "There's not one player, not one player, since I've been a head coach that I kicked off the team that ever went anywhere and amounted to anything and accomplished anything, playing or academically."
He's right, whether you like it or not. Kicking someone off of a team isn't always the answer, but he acknowledged that in some cases, it must be done. In Drake and Reed's cases, they'll be suspended until they prove to Saban that they're ready to represent the Crimson Tide. I'm okay with that.
Saban also had comments on the college football playoff. He believes that each SEC team should play the opposing SEC teams. Every single one of them.
"You know, I'm hopeful that when we choose the teams that are in the playoff, that we take the 13 years of experience that the BCS had in tweaking their system of picking teams so that they get the right four teams in the game." Fair enough. They should get it right and they will. But the most popular topic of the day was Lane Kiffin.
"Well, I think anytime anybody has knowledge and experience, it certainly contributes a lot of value in your organization," Saban said. "Lane certainly has been helpful in a lot of areas."
Saban on two-quarterback system: It's not something I can rule out because of Blake Sims' abilities that can present problems for defenses.
— Aaron Suttles (@AaronSuttles) July 17, 2014
The players talked about Kiffin too, but in different ways. Talking to Christion Jones, it seemed like the offense would be vastly different from Nussmeyer's. It seemed as if the offense would spread out, receivers would line up everywhere, and defenses would be confused.
But Amari Cooper said the opposite. "The offense is pretty much the safe with some different calls. Coach Kiffin wants to get the ball in playmakers' hands."
Who knows? It will be a different offense, for sure. Whether they'll do some up-tempo things, I don't know. But you just have to think: he's Lane Kiffin, Saban says he brings new ideas, so you have to think something will change.
As for the media vote, Coach Saban is a little skeptical.
"Last year you'd actually been wrong, you know, like 17 out of 21 times. Now you're wrong 18 out of 22. Every year we've been fortunate enough to win the championship, you picked somebody else to win it. So just to let you know that, we're evaluating you."