Nick Saban says this year's Alabama team has been better at battling adversity than last year

The Alabama Crimson Tide football team will face one of their stiffest tests this weekend in the LSU Tigers. The Tide currently sit at 7-1 and outside of a close loss to the Texas Longhorns, they’ve rattled off seven wins.

On the Thursday evening edition of the Hey Coach & The Nick Saban Show, the legendary football coach took some time to field a number of questions from fans and callers. Saban said he feels like this year’s team is much better at handling adversity than they were last year.

Nick Saban on his team battling adversity

“I think in games like this, which this is gonna be a tough game. How do you deal with hard? You know, I mean, I think that’s really, really important. And that’s one of the things when I look back on last year’s team. We had a really good team,” Saban began.

“But the last five plays of the Tennessee game and right at the end of the LSU game. We made several mental errors on that last drive. We made a mental error, you know, on their two-point play. So, we didn’t handle hard very well in the two most important games,” Saban continued.

“The biggest games of the year that cost us having an opportunity to maybe go to the playoffs or get in the SEC Championship Game or whatever. But this year’s team, even though we keep trying to get them to play one play at a time through 60 minutes in the game and maintain that intensity, rather than being a little bit up and down in the game. They have handled hard well,” the legendary football coach said.

“I mean, whenever they’re behind, whenever they’re in a tough spot they make the plays they’ve gotta be able to make to win the game. Whether it’s blocked field goal at [Texas] A&M or whatever it is. So, this team has handled hard well, which I think is a really important part of being a great competitive team,” Saban said on Thursday night.

Alabama and LSU are set to face off on Saturday night, Nov. 4th. Kick time for that one is set for 7:45 PM EST. The game will be played in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The Crimson Tide have dominated the rivalry in the past decade. Since 2012, the Tide have won 10 of the last 12 matchups between the two teams. LSU currently sits at 6-2 overall and are currently ranked No. 14 in the College Football Playoff Poll. The Crimson Tide are currently ranked No. 8 in the College Football Playoff Poll.