Nick Saban reaffirms his spot on Vanderbilt bandwagon: 'I really can't jump off yet'

Nick Saban joined the bandwagon last weekend on Vanderbilt with ‘College GameDay’ in Nashville. The Commodores’ momentum was only furthered that day with a win in a Top 15 matchup over Missouri to move to 7-1 (3-1). He’s still firmly in a seat on the bandwagon, too, going into November.

Saban spoke more on Vandy while on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday. He was impressed with last week’s close win over Mizzou, with the Commodores now set to play in another Top 20 matchup tomorrow on the road against Texas.

“You know, Vanderbilt? You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for how they played last week because, you know, Diego did not have a great game. They were still able to score enough points. They were able to play good enough defense,” Saban said. “And, you know, it just seems like Texas has struggled a little bit to get any kind of rhythm going on offense, for whatever reason. And, I don’t know what – that’s the question I’d love to ask Sark, you know, tomorrow when he’s on the show, is, you know, what needs to be fixed?

“Is it the offensive line, is it an inability to run the ball, inability to protect the passer? What are the issues here? But, I’ll tell you what. Clark Lea has done a really good job with that defense. And, whatever the issue is with, you know, Texas’ offense, they’re going to try to expose them in the game by, you know, how they come after them.”

Vanderbilt remains one of the stories of college football with what it has done over two months of this season, being off to its best start since 1941 and being well within the running right now for both the SEC Championship and for a spot in the College Football Playoff. That’s been a result of what the Commodores built up and invested in over the past two years. It is also why Saban, who is all for it in this era of the sport, does believe in what they’re doing down on West End.

“I’m not going to say it on the air, but they have a significant amount of money in their collective, which I think they were able to get because Diego brought some success to the program. People could see the value and exposure that that gave the university and the program, and it’s very beneficial. So, they’ve made a commitment, and it’s showing and it’s paying off,” Saban said. “So, kind of really interesting but really good for college football, I think. You know, teams like Vanderbilt, and Virginia, and, you know, Cincinnati – people who have not historically been people that we talk about, we’re talking about them, and I think that’s a good thing.”

There’s another tough game ahead of Vanderbilt tomorrow afternoon as it will meet Texas down on The 40 Acres. But, to this point, Saban sees no reason yet to be in on the Commodores.

“It’ll be interesting…I think it’s going to be a game,” Saban said. “And, you know, like I was put on the spot last week, you know, in Nashville, so I had to jump on the Vanderbilt bandwagon, and I really can’t jump off yet.”