Tennessee Volunteers fans mess with Nick Saban statue (Video)
By John Buhler
Some Tennessee Volunteers fans decided to mess with Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban’s statue in Tuscaloosa before the Third Saturday in October.
The SEC has many of the best rivalries in all of college football. The Third Saturday in October between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers is one of the best cross-divisional rivalries in the sport.
October 15th should be one the better games in recent years in this annual rivalry between Alabama and Tennessee. Alabama is the No. 1 team in the nation, while Tennessee comes in at No. 9. The Crimson Tide are at a perfect 6-0. The Volunteers are 5-1 and coming off its first loss of the year to the Texas A&M Aggies in Week 6.
Tennessee has not beaten Alabama since 2006, yet some Volunteers fans decided to poke the bear by messing with Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban’s statue outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Yes, it was only a Tennessee flag placed in the arms of Saban’s clapping hands, but aren’t the Vols getting ahead of themselves a bit here? Tennessee is the team that has a loss on the year. They’ve had opportunities to lose all six of their 2016 games to date. Alabama just goes out and crushes its opponents weekly.
It is strange to see a statue of a living person immortalized outside of a football stadium. Then again, football is religion in the Southeastern United States. Alabama has always constructed a statue of a National Championship winning coach outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium.
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Saban has won four in his time in Tuscaloosa. He’s bound to play for another in the third annual College Football Playoff. For Tennessee to have a shot at making the Playoff, the Vols will need to beat Alabama at home on Saturday and probably again in the 2016 SEC Championship in Atlanta.