Neyland Stadium made an undeniable impact on Tennessee football’s 52-49 losing streak ending victory over Alabama last October.
As Tennessee goes for its second straight win in the series and its first win in Tuscaloosa since 2003, Alabama coach Nick Saban is calling for a similar environment.
The 17th-year Alabama football coach made a passionate and somewhat irritated plea with the Crimson Tide fans to make a consistent impact on Saturday’s showdown between No. 11 Alabama and No. 17 Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
“We talk about what a big rivalry game this is and what a big game this is, but it should be a big game for everybody,” Saban said on his weekly radio show Thursday night. “Everybody is on the team. All the fans. Everybody. And the fans in this game should have a huge impact on this game. You can have a huge impact with the noise that you make. This team (Tennessee) is trying to go fast. They run 2.7 plays every minute in the game. You can affect that and disrupt that by making noise and it’s going to create energy and (an) environment that our players will play better in. They’ll be able to sustain their intensity better in, which is what we lost last week. Because it’s going to take that type of game for 60 minutes.
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“These guys make a lot of explosive plays. They go fast. It’s going to be one of those games so everybody has to stay with it and play the next play and stay in it as fans. You create the momentum of the game by what you do as fans. Don’t worry about the players creating it. You create it for them. One time. One time I’m asking you to do that.”
The quote shows some irritation from Saban but you can hear the passion and plea for improved fan participation in the video. Check it out here.
Nick Saban ended “Hey Coach” with a mini rant on the impact fans can make on Saturday
“Everybody is on the team, all the fans everybody … you create the momentum … don’t worry about the player’s creating it … you create it for them … one time I’m asking you to do that” pic.twitter.com/pRKdpxIPcw
— Brett Greenberg (@BrettGreenberg_) October 20, 2023
This isn’t the first time Saban has complained about fan participation during his Alabama tenure. In recent years, Saban has implored Alabama fans to stay for the entirety of games as the energy at Bryant-Denny Stadium drops in the second half and fourth quarter of blowout wins.
There’s plenty of reasons for Saban to emphasize crowd participation before the Tennessee game and he spelled some of them out. Tennessee has struggled with pre snap penalties in recent road games as the crowd noise throws off the Vols’ offensive rhythm and tempo.
The rivalry matchup is also extremely important for both teams including Alabama. Despite its early season loss against Texas, Alabama is still in the driver’s seat in the SEC West. However, a loss against Tennessee would tighten up the race and give the Crimson Tide no room for error the rest of the way.
A second loss could also eliminate Alabama from the College Football Playoff though the sport’s parity this season would likely keep them alive for the time being.
