The college football season is coming down to one game and one night that will decide the national title. On Monday, Nick Saban takes his Alabama Crimson Tide against the Clemson Tigers and Dabo Swinney at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. With the spotlight on the two coaches, BetDSI Sportsbook has posted a betting line on whether or not Saban will break a headset:
Will Nick Saban Break A Headset During CFP Title Game?
Yes +500
No -850
Saban is mostly calm when things are going well but he has had a few outbursts. He was well-known for going after former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin on the Alabama sideline when the Crimson Tide’s offense struggled. Kiffin was often a punching bag for Saban on the sidelines and in the media, and that relationship eventually pulled apart at the end of the 2016 season. Saban was not happy with Kiffin during a 24-7 win over Washington in the 2016 Peach Bowl, that season’s College Football Playoff semifinals. A new offensive coordinator entered for the title game a week later against Clemson.
Related: College Football Betting Guide
Saban has gone at officials several times, but his most famous meltdowns occur with players, chiefly when they commit unsportsmanlike conduct penalties (for showboating or acting out) or false-start penalties and similar mental errors. On Dec. 29 in the Orange Bowl playoff semifinal against Oklahoma, Alabama offensive linemen committed several false-start penalties, and after they kept accumulating, Saban lost it. He went berserk on the sideline and smashed his headset. Alabama was very sloppy in that game against Oklahoma, and when the mistakes did not stop, Saban erupted.
Will He Do It?
The Saban anger will emerge, but will it emerge enough for him to break a headset? Keep this in mind as background: Saban was very confrontational and angry in a postgame interview with Maria Taylor of ESPN after Alabama’s season-opening win over Louisville in early September. After that incident, Saban apologized. Taylor also works for SEC Network, which is under the ESPN media umbrella, so she spends a lot of time around Saban during the course of a college football season. The fact that Saban lost his cool and then had to apologize shortly thereafter suggests that in this national title game, he will behave — at least to the extent that he will not crush his headset.
Scenarios
Alabama was so unfocused against Oklahoma that it is probably going to play a more disciplined game against Clemson and not give Saban as many reasons to be furious. If the fury of Saban emerges in this game, it is much more likely to come from a horribly blown call, and more particularly, a horribly blown call which occurs at a critical point in the game, most likely in the second half, when the outcome hangs in the balance.
When Saban erupted in the Orange Bowl, the display occurred when his team – bored and lazy as a result of gaining a big lead – seemed to drift through the game. Saban will probably be very focused on observing details with his team in the first quarter against Clemson. If he gets to the third quarter and sees that things aren’t improving, or if he sees that the officials are not giving him a fair shake, he might try to work the officials so that he will get a call in the fourth quarter. If he gets a horrible call against Alabama in the final minutes, he might also lose hold of his temper and let the officials have it. His anger is likely to build in the first half before it boils over in the second half.
