Nick Saban jokes about rare two-minute drill to end first half

You wouldn’t necessarily know it by looking at the final score, but the Sugar Bowl was a close game in the first half. Toward the end of the half, Kansas State had a long drive that failed to reach the end zone after a failed fourth down conversion near the goal line. From there, Alabama was able to run a rare two-minute drill that Nick Saban later explained and joked about.

The question came up during the postgame press conference when quarterback Bryce Young was asked about the decision to go for a two-minute drill despite needing to go 98 yards in less than a minute. After Young answered, speaking about trust in the offense, Nick Saban stepped in to explain the decision.

“They had three timeouts,” Nick Saban explained. “We had to make a first down. We made a first down. Got out to the 20-yard line and when we get that kind of field position with a minute to go in the half, we’re going to go two-minute.”

The key starting point of that drive is that Kansas State had all its first-half timeouts. So, playing conservatively could give them another chance to score in what was then a one-score game. Because of that, Alabama had to be aggressive before getting into a position it was comfortable from.

“But, they were gonna call three timeouts and make us punt. So, we had to run the ball. We had to go. We couldn’t kneel on the ball and we’ve got lots of confidence and trust in our players, and that was a huge swing in the game for us to stop them on fourth down and then go down 98 yards in less than a minute and score a touchdown,” Nick Saban said, before drawing a laugh. “But, we do practice it.”

That drive did turn into one of the most important in the game. It was 14-10 when Alabama stopped Kansas State on fourth down. The Crimson Tide added a score before the half and got the ball to start the second half. That was a quick score and before anyone knew what happened the game was 28-10, soon to be 35-10. Momentum flipped and the blowout was on.

Nick Saban doubled down on Alabama being in the CFP

Despite losing two regular season games and missing out on the SEC Championship Game entirely, Nick Saban was sure that the Crimson Tide should have been a College Football Playoff team. After the Sugar Bowl win, beating a Kansas State team who went 1-1 against TCU, he doubled down.

“I think we had a little bit of a taste in our mouth that if we had a dominant performance, it would show people that we probably did deserve to do a little better than we did, in terms of the playoff picture,” Saban said.

“But at the same time, I’m proud that we came to the Sugar Bowl, and proud that we won the Sugar Bowl.”