By now, you have heard the quote from head coach Nick Saban regarding the state of college football, and how there needed to be more “parity” in the game.
In the interview with the Paul Finebaum Show during the Regions Tradition Celebrity Pro-am in Birmingham last week, Saban says that college football has ventured away from what made the game great in the past with the addition of NIL and the transfer portal.
Same scholarship (count), same academic support, whatever it is. I don’t think we have that balance right now which can impact the parity of college football and college athletics as a whole. I know we have a lot of good people working on it and I’m sure they will come up with a good solution for us.
While most agree with what Saban said regarding the world of college football, but is there a motive, or even a fellow SEC program that sparked this comment?
In a response to a caller who said that Texas A&M’s use of resources has ruffled feathers of SEC powers since their arrival in 2012, Finebaum says that the idea is not far-fetched.
Since the day A&M arrived, there’s been a whispering fear about what would happen if they ever got it right because — this is just my opinion, but there’s only one school in the country I think that can compete with A&M from a financial standpoint and that’s Texas. Those two are standalone when it comes to ability and resources, and this is a money game right now that we’re talking about here. I think, when you hear the Saban’s of the world complaining, that’s why he’s saying what he’s saying.
The thought of Texas A&M being on Saban’s mind stems from the Aggies reeling in the nation’s no. 1 signing class for the 2022 cycle, which included four five-star signees. Many critics were skeptical of the signing class, insinuating that NIL sponsorships played a factor in landing top talent. An accusation that head coach Jimbo Fisher tells Josh Pate of 247sports is “insulting.”
That had nothing to do with this class or anything else… this was hard work by our staff. It’s insulting to the kids who come here, that you insinuate that. And that people insinuate that, off of things taken off a message board, Bro Bible, by a guy named ‘Sliced Bread‘ whoever the heck that is, who has no clue about what goes on. But NIL is here to stay in college football, it’s going to be a factor in college football, there is no doubt. … But those reports and the things that people say are very irresponsible…and people need to figure out the truth before they do it.
There’s no doubt that when Alabama and Texas A&M meet on October 8 in Tuscaloosa, that there will be tension between Saban and Fisher.
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