Nick Saban cleared to coach Alabama vs. Georgia after negative COVID-19 test

With a third negative COVID-19 test, Alabama football head coach Nick Saban has been cleared to coach against Georgia on Saturday night.

On Wednesday afternoon it was revealed that Alabama football coach Nick Saban tested positive for the coronavirus and he wouldn’t coach in today’s game vs. No. 3 Georgia. However, after testing negative the last three days, that test is being deemed a false positive and coach Saban will be allowed to coach from the sidelines for the biggest SEC game of the year, and arguably the biggest game of the regular season. In total, he’s had five negative PCR tests since Wednesday, split among two different labs.

Saban was asymptomatic and said to be doing fine since the initial diagnosis and delivered negative tests over 24-hour periods to increase the likelihood that the greatest coach of all time would indeed be on the sidelines for No. 2 Alabama.

SEC statement on Saban being cleared to coach vs. Georgia

"“Upon being notified by the University of Alabama of a potential positive COVID-19 test result involving Nick Saban, the SEC Office provided and reviewed with the university the COVID-19 management requirements established by the SEC’s Medical Guidance Task Force and emphasized the need to comply with all local and state health policies.“Consistent with the Conference’s COVID-19 management requirements, PAE, the third-party provider secured by the SEC to standardize and provide testing for the 14 member institutions, has utilized the authorized laboratory in processing and reporting the three tests 24 hours apart as necessary to satisfy the requirements of the Task Force policy regarding the handling of asymptomatic PCR positive tests.”"

Nick Saban will coach Alabama vs. Georgia after a third negative COVID test

Alabama was prepared in the event he couldn’t with offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian set to assume the acting head coach duties for the game vs. Georgia, but now, he can just focus on calling plays against the vaunted Bulldogs defense and Saban can run the team.

Saban spoke about the interruptions that his positive COVID-19 test caused but stopped short of making any big excuses. And if you gave truth serum to Georgia football fans, they probably assumed Saban would find a way to coach this game anyway. Plus, if they beat Alabama without Saban, they’d be crushed for it because they did it without Saban, so even with a win, they would have been largely criticized.

Now, there won’t be any outside excuses or narratives and we can just focus on the two best teams in the SEC and two of the three best teams in college football in what should be an awesome game on CBS.

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