Mullen is beating Saban

[Reason2succeed]

He might not have a win against Saban where it counts but Mullen is getting his way on the off the field NCAA issues.

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=20166945

Saban tries his best to act like he cares about student athletes when talking about early signing periods. But what he is really afraid of is that big schools lose the power to slow play guys when there is an early signing period. Notice that Saban pushes the argument to the extreme of before their senior year when the legislation is just to create an early signing day before Christmas.

http://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/20165321

He turns right around and then proposes something that would hurt student athletes by proposing that P5 only play other P5 schools. That means that small programs like UAB, USM, Memphis, Houston, Etc would no longer get a crack at the National Championship or even a win over a P5 school. Not to mention the even smaller schools. More dramatically it would mean less money for G5 schools who many of them get paid hundreds of millions of dollars to play P5 schools. Surely Saban wants this for the SAs right? No! Of course not. He just wants to give Alabama more margin for failure.

I hate that prick. Gosh I want us to beat him.

[Todd4State]

If he wants to play all power 5 times he should schedule all power 5 teams and let everyone else do what they see fit.

I honestly do not like that we are told that we have to play one power 5 team. If we want to on our own that's fine but I don't think it's right that we are made to do so. I feel like that was a rule designed to keep us down specifically and it was something that Saban pushed. I just think that each program should have control over their own schedule outside of league play.

[HSVDawg]

If he wants to play all power 5 times he should schedule all power 5 teams and let everyone else do what they see fit.

I honestly do not like that we are told that we have to play one power 5 team. If we want to on our own that's fine but I don't think it's right that we are made to do so. I feel like that was a rule designed to keep us down specifically and it was something that Saban pushed. I just think that each program should have control over their own schedule outside of league play.

I personally prefer going to a 9-game SEC schedule over the one Power 5 team rule. Why should the SEC be interested in bringing the other conferences up a peg by scheduling games against them when 9 times out of 10 a team from the opposite division can be a tougher opponent that improves strength of schedule even more? It's stupid. Not to mention the added TV revenue that is generated from renegotiating with the SEC Network due to an additional weekend of conference games. I have absolutely no idea why the SEC thought lining the pockets up the Big 12, Pac 12, ACC, and Big 10 woild be a better idea than that.

[Todd4State]

I personally prefer going to a 9-game SEC schedule over the one Power 5 team rule. Why should the SEC be interested in bringing the other conferences up a peg by scheduling games against them when 9 times out of 10 a team from the opposite division can be a tougher opponent that improves strength of schedule even more? It's stupid. Not to mention the added TV revenue that is generated from renegotiating with the SEC Network due to an additional weekend of conference games. I have absolutely no idea why the SEC thought lining the pockets up the Big 12, Pac 12, ACC, and Big 10 woild be a better idea than that.

If I had to choose between playing a power 5 team every year or a 9 game SEC schedule I would choose the 9 game SEC schedule each and every time.

[Token Bammer]

Saban isn't the best at what he does because of the rules. Saban is the best at what he does because regardless the set of rules he'll rise to the top. I know, I know. BAMA is only good because we cheat more than everyone else and all the conspiracy blah, blah, blah. However, the truth is no one works harder than Nick Saban.

The small schools that don't reside in the P5 stand no realistic shot of winning the natty as it is. I believe Saban truly doesn't enjoy beating cream puffs, but if everyone is going to enjoy the fruit of a pseudo off week then he will partake as well. He likes to be challenged and for his players to be challenged week in and week out. That may not benefit the small schools financially, but it would benefit the game of college football which the P5 has come to dominate regardless. The game is headed toward a P4 in my honest opinion. It's only a matter of time.

[Token Bammer]

For the record, I like the scheduling the way it is. I think the SEC is tough enough and the rest of the conferences need to catch up some if we are going to play a P5 schedule. If anything changes, I would have to agree with the posts above regarding a 9 game SEC schedule. Problem with that is it's just one more week for the SEC to hurt itself by potentially knocking itself out the playoff. The rest of college football tend to have top heavy conferences with little opportunity for the top teams to drop a game.

[Reason2succeed]

The reason why you want to play other P5 conferences and G5 and lower is because it brings more people into the league. The SEC could go off by itself and leave everyone else but eventually they would just become NFL only fans and CFB would be like the Ivy League. There would be a champion every year but no one would care. Diversification keeps all the other fanbases engaged and proverbially adds oxygen to the fish tank.

I agree that Bama could schedule all P5 next year if they want to. That's why I'm calling BS on his argument. Also, I guarantee that Saban wouldn't say the same thing if he was still at Michigan State. He would be enjoying beating Western Michigan and Northern Illinois.

Once again Saban is a self serving prick who can coach football. God bless him and I'm
praying for the day that we beat his a$$.

[Todd4State]

Saban isn't the best at what he does because of the rules. Saban is the best at what he does because regardless the set of rules he'll rise to the top. I know, I know. BAMA is only good because we cheat more than everyone else and all the conspiracy blah, blah, blah. However, the truth is no one works harder than Nick Saban.

The small schools that don't reside in the P5 stand no realistic shot of winning the natty as it is. I believe Saban truly doesn't enjoy beating cream puffs, but if everyone is going to enjoy the fruit of a pseudo off week then he will partake as well. He likes to be challenged and for his players to be challenged week in and week out. That may not benefit the small schools financially, but it would benefit the game of college football which the P5 has come to dominate regardless. The game is headed toward a P4 in my honest opinion. It's only a matter of time.

For the record no one is saying that he cheats. He will use his influence to try to shift things in Alabama’s favor if he can though. There’s no question about that- but that’s not cheating.

Doing something to hurt Mississippi State is probably not in the best interest of the SEC- but it may be in the best interest of Alabama because trying to keep us and other teams in the SEC down is no question in the favor of Alabama. And I do not think that it’s only an Alabama versus MSU specific thing each and every time to be clear.

And if what you say about Saban is true about him rising up every time then he should have no problem with the new recruiting NSD schedule.

[Todd4State]

For the record, I like the scheduling the way it is. I think the SEC is tough enough and the rest of the conferences need to catch up some if we are going to play a P5 schedule. If anything changes, I would have to agree with the posts above regarding a 9 game SEC schedule. Problem with that is it's just one more week for the SEC to hurt itself by potentially knocking itself out the playoff. The rest of college football tend to have top heavy conferences with little opportunity for the top teams to drop a game.

I don’t like the schedule because it fits a 12 team league better than a 14 team league. I would rather go to 9 games and play people like Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and etc. more than I would like to see MSU play BYU, Kansas State, and Arizona. Plus the way the schedule is we play one of the SEC East teams in Starkville or on the road once every 12 years. That’s not great for fans like me that like to travel to the road games and want to see everyone in the league.

Playing a good power 5 team isn’t really any different than playing another SEC team unless you happen to schedule a really bad power 5 team like Kansas as far as difficulty goes. At least by playing another SEC team the teams in the league save money because now the other power 5 teams can’t gouge the SEC teams because of our own stupid rule because they know we have to play one of them.

Plus it’s not like you wouldn’t have the option to still play a power 5 team OOC if you chose to do so. If MSU wanted to play Notre Dame home and home I would be all for it for example.

[Hasu Dackds]

Yes, he's only looking out for himself. All the coaches are this way, though. They are protecting that million dollar paycheck. This is where the NCAA or the conferences could step and keep people in check.

[Hasu Dackds]

You would not be defending him if you were not an Alabama fan. Your opinion is worthless on this matter.

[TUSK]

MDL doing what's best for Bammer?....

Sounds legit.

[LockeDawg]

Why won't the media ask every SEC coach what their opinion is on the matter? Why the hell do we only see the opinion of Saban? Every freaking year, he gets the headlines on some off the wall crap like this and football fans from everywhere discuss it. Wouldn't it be much more entertaining and informative to get see what the rest of the SEC coaches think about scheduling and the early signing period? I'd love to know how the others feel.

[Reason2succeed]

Why won't the media ask every SEC coach what their opinion is on the matter? Why the hell do we only see the opinion of Saban? Every freaking year, he gets the headlines on some off the wall crap like this and football fans from everywhere discuss it. Wouldn't it be much more entertaining and informative to get see what the rest of the SEC coaches think about scheduling and the early signing period? I'd love to know how the others feel.

Saban is putting his thumb on the scale like he is the king of CFB. He's pissed they lost the championship.
Saban is from the Belichek coaching tree so he avoids the media. I'm pretty sure he gave them the questions he wanted to be asked.

[dawgs]

I'd love for all 12 games for all P5 programs to be good games. I love good football, and beating the shit out of outmanned teams isn't fun.

That said, his argument against the early signing period is some serious slippery slope fallacy.