ROSE BOWL MEDIA DAY: Saban calls season 'fun'; Michigan players refute bracket release response

Alabama head coach Nick Saban answers questions during annual Rose Bowl Media Day on Saturday. (Unv. Alabama Media Relations)

By GRAHAM DUNN

Saban - this team has been ‘fun’

During Saturday’s Rose Bowl Media Day, Alabama head coach Nick Saban was asked to assess his team after 13 games.

His answer - “it’s been fun.”

“Well, this team has been fun because the relationships on the team are really good,”he said. “The leadership on the team is really good. The buy-in that the players have has been really good.

“I think that you're always trying to develop guys putting the team forward. Everybody can have more success if we all play together.

Saban said this group bought into his principles and values, kept positive energy and took esponsibility, especially after the loss to Texas and near catastrophe against South Florida in Week 3.

“What we did as a staff and as an organization is we tried to focus on what we needed to do to improve and get better and how could we make our team better,” Saban explained. “I do think the players responded magnificently to the challenges that we had, really focused, wanted to prove something, were not happy with the circumstance that they created for themselves.

“That was a real motivating factor for them. I thought our coaching staff did a really good job of sort of making the corrections and adjustments that we needed to make to give our players the best opportunity to be successful, and they responded well to it and it worked out really well.

Saban believes it led to a more close-knit group that worked harder.

“It really is pretty special when you have a group that does that, and this group certainly did, and that made it a lot of fun to be around them, and the relationships on the team made it even more inspiring,” he said.

Michigan’s response to bracket reveal misunderstood, players say

There seems to be some confusion regarding Michigan’s response when Alabama popped up in the final bracket and not Florida State on “Selection Sunday” when the final bracket was revealed.

Social media had a field day regarding the reaction, calling the players “scared” when it saw the Crimson Tide’s name.

No so, says the players.

“I was just like let's go. What an opportunity, what a tremendous team to put ourselves against and see what we're made of,” said quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

“A lot of the buzz out there was acting like we were scared and all this, but we were just shocked that Florida State didn't get in, being 13-0. We were just excited for this opportunity.”

“Yeah, I just felt like it was kind of like a, ooh, like people really didn't know who was going to get that spot. It was kind of just like an ah moment,” added defenisve lineman Mason Graham. “Everyone in that room really knew what was going on, so.

“I thought they were going to put (Alabama) in going into it.”

Earlier in the week, linebacker Michael Barrett was asked about Alabama’s speed and has heard the comments regarding the SEC’s dominance in national championship games.

“I think it's he said/she said,” he quipped. “In the past, Alabama, they've had their success, and that's kind of what they've stood on just their size, their speed, their strength. But you can find that anywhere.

“I'm from Georgia, so you know I kind of grew up around all of that, grew up around SEC, watching Florida, watching Georgia, Alabama, teams like that. I feel like it's he said/she said. I feel like you really won't know until we're out there on the field together until we line it up.”

Saban knows the Harbaugh family, familiar with Big 10 football from days at Michigan St.

While Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh has not crossed much in recent years, Saban is familiar with the Michigan coach, as well as his family.

“I know Jim,” he said. “I've known his family for years. I loved his dad. When I was a young coach, his dad was a secondary coach at Michigan, and I was an up and coming, trying to learn how to coach a secondary, and he was always helpful to me.

“I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for the family. His dad was a great coach, John is a good coach, Jim is a good coach. Tom Crean was on the staff with Coach Izzo at Michigan State and we had a relationship, and he's married to Jim's sister. I've had a tremendous amount of respect for the family for years.”

Saban also knows of the tales of Woody Hayes and Ohio State and the rivalry with Michigan.

“I coached Ohio State-Michigan State, so in those days I mean, Woody Hayes didn't even allow you to buy gas in Michigan if you were recruiting there when he was there.” Saban said

“I don't think I have any lingering feelings, but I know and respect the traditions of those rivalry games. This is a big game for our team, and that's what I'm focused on is our team and what we can do to try to play well against a really good Michigan team.”