Finally Over Nick Saban's Desertion of the Dolphins

Although I have no intention of becoming a University of Alabama Crimson Tide football fan, I have finally gotten over my sense of betrayal at their current head coach, Nick Saban.  He abandoned his job of coaching the Miami Dolphins in mid-contract to take on the Alabama post when the latter offered him a shamelessly exorbitant offer.  I still have a problem with coaches who hop from job to job, never staying in one place long enough to establish any sense of tradition there.  With Saban, the effect was compounded by the way he framed himself as a man of character, even writing a book on the subject.  But he has at least stuck with his present position at Alabama (this is his sixth year there) and harping on him doesn't do anything to change the past.  Besides, he and his team may have unknowingly done my Florida Gators a favor last night...

In order for Florida to get to go to a major bowl game (like the Sugar Bowl), they would have to be the second-highest ranked team in the Southeastern Conference.  Had Alabama not made their dramatic last-minute comeback to defeat LSU last night, the Gators would probably have ended up behind both Alabama and the probable LSU/Georgia conference title game winner.  As it now stands, though, Alabama will most likely win the rest of their games, including the one against Georgia in that title game (Georgia has only to beat an unusually bad Auburn team to win their division).  Should this happen, Florida will in all likelihood be that #2 team, assuming they manage to beat cross-state rival Florida State in a few weeks.  Sounds complicated, right?

So maybe UF can avoid playing Saban's Crimson Tide and end up with a great final ranking.  I didn't like Saban, a great coach, leaving Miami like that in late 2006.  But I wish he had at least gone on to a school that wasn't in the same conference as Florida (Urban Meyer "correctly" went on to coach the Big Ten's Ohio State while Steve Spurrier "incorrectly" landed at UF's divisional rival South Carolina).   Still, I have made my peace about the matter and have forgiven the dude, who never really ever did anything against me, anyway...