Nick Saban scolds reporter at Alabama press conference( Video)

Alabama is the frontrunner to win the national title right now, but a reporter learned not to ask Nick Saban what may be construed as a dumb question.

The Alabama Crimson Tide finished the regular season with a 30-12 win over Auburn in the “Iron Bowl” on Saturday, and they are 12-0 heading into Saturday’s SEC Championship Game against the Florida Gators.

It’s fair to assume Alabama can lose to Florida and still earn a spot in the College Football Playoff. But don’t try telling that to Saban, and when a reporter offered the notion players may let their guard down against the Gators he had a pointed response.

Saban is hardly alone among coaches in the idea that it’s never ok to lose a game, and winning the SEC is an accomplishment that shouldn’t be discounted. But he started on a wholly unrelated tangent, at least in regard to his team specifically, about the lack of interest in non-playoff bowl games and dismissal of the teams that appear in said games.

There’s a whole different conversation to be had about the over-saturation of bowl games in college football, which opened things up to a few five-win teams a year ago. But when it comes down to it, the four playoff teams each year are more likely to be remembered than whoever won the Poinsettia Bowl or the Idaho Potato Bowl.

Even if Saban wants to dismiss it to some degree, there is a marked difference in the playoff and almost all the other bowl games. Right or wrong, that’s the reason a coach like Saban gets paid like he does. He gets bonuses for bringing home national titles, not winning a ninth game of the season in mid-tier bowl, and to pretend otherwise is naïve.

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Saban clearly saw a chance to scold a media member for what he perceived to be a dumb question. Reporters that cover Crimson Tide football know what they’re getting with Saban, but they don’t have to like being treated like a child.