Saban bemoans long season after Alabama wins national title

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A year ago when Ohio State routed Oregon 42-20 to win the national championship, the Buckeyes emerged from the game feeling as if they wouldn't have had enough left if there had been another round of the playoffs.

Oregon was done before that night even began, physically spent in the first season of the four-team College Football Playoff.

Alabama coach Nick Saban is glad this season is over, and not just because his Crimson Tide beat Clemson 45-40 on Monday to win the national title, but because his players didn't have much physically and emotionally going into that game and had virtually nothing left once it ended.

"That was my concern when we started all this," Saban said Tuesday morning regarding the playoff format. "I think our players would agree with me on this, that it was really, really difficult after a long season for us to maintain the sort of intensity that we had. I thought our players were really locked in for the Michigan State game (38-0 victory) in the first playoff game, and knowing that we were playing an even better team in Clemson in this game, it was really hard when we came back after that game.

"So I know that you can say, well, in the NFL they have playoffs, and sometimes you have to play three or four games in the playoffs, but I think professional athletes are a little bit different than college guys. These guys gave up their whole vacation from Dec. 10 when school was out until we're going to school (today). That's quite a bit of sacrifice that gets made, and I think it's challenging how do you get a team to maintain the focus that they need to have."

The toll on the players has been a longtime concern of Saban and other coaches when talk about going to a playoff system inevitably emerged each year.

Public sentiment finally led to such a postseason system last season, and there has been speculation the field will eventually expand to eight teams. But coaches such as Saban would push back on that idea, and the four-team bracket maintains the importance of the regular season while satisfying the public wish for a playoff.

Many coaches would like to go back to the two-team Bowl Championship Series system so their players aren't so beaten up after playing 15 games, but that would be as realistic as returning to the days before the Internet.

Even playoff proponents, however, can't discount how demanding the new format is on the players.

"It was a lot to stay in Dallas (for the semifinal) for a week, come back home for five days, and then come here for three or four days," Alabama tight end O.J. Howard said. "It's a lot of traveling. You've got to get used to the different type of weather. We came here and the humidity was different, (and we) had to learn different breathing patterns. We had to start treating our body right by hydrating five days before the game.

"But if you want to win the championship, you've got to suck it up and do what it takes to win."

Saban, knowing it was difficult for his team to properly focus, made the point to his players before the game the mark they could leave behind.

"We always talk about playing 60 minutes, but this is a 60-10 game," Saban said. "It's 60 minutes of the game and then the 10 minutes in the locker room after the game that you remember for the rest of your life, and what you accomplish actually even transcends your life because they put a plaque up that this team won the national championship.

"The accomplishment is significant. But on the other hand, I am concerned about how does a playoff and a bowl system coexist, and how could we make it better if that's possible, or get it right."

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65