Ay, wake up, Nick Saban is dropping some BOMBS. The 2024 season has not been kind to the SEC teams. This is probably the first time that most of the powerhouses are at the bottom of the barrel and the Big 10 teams are dominating the playoff list. If you go right now and check the top 5 contenders for the CFP, there are 3 Big 10 teams and only 1 SEC team, and that, too, is an anomaly because the Longhorns have played no one with a pulse this year (Other than Georgia and well they lost against them). So, the SEC needs some advice to do better and who could be the best person to give that advice other than Nick Saban?

See, Nick Saban has coached an SEC team and a Big 10 team, and he has something to point out when it comes to the “weather.” Kinda anti-climactic, huh? “I just wanted to give him one coaching point that I got when I was a baseball player, and I had a really tough coach who would blow on our hands when it was cold….. You’re not allowed to blow on your hands, stick them up your a**,” Nick Saban mentioned on The Pat McAfee Show. See, this is a fair point. Now you have to understand that when you are playing in cold weather, it becomes quite hard to control the football. It is much harder to throw.

That ain’t all, though. It also becomes quite hard to handle the football. If you are the running back or the WR, you cannot even wear sleeves because the football will slip right out. “When you put three pressure points on the ball, the ball would slide out easier and you’d be more susceptible to turnovers,” Saban pointed out.

This entire thing might feel like one of those “niche” complaints, but it is a valid one, and for SEC it stands true. Most, if not all, of the SEC teams are not used to this climate, and this year, with the CFP being hosted at campus sites, the boys are gonna have a hard time.

Let’s take Georgia and Penn State as an example. If Kirby Smart and Bulldogs play at Beaver Stadium, it is going to be COLD. But all of this doesn’t mean there is no solution to this problem. See, while this little gripe from Saban might sound like an excuse, there is an easy way to go around this.

“Help, I’m freezing” – SEC

Let’s start again with Georgia. After the Dawgs won against the Vols, they are on the playoff list to go straight to Oregon to fight it off against the undefeated Ducks. In general, Oregon has a much harsher winter compared to the warmer Georgia, so naturally Smart has to come up with a plan. See, the first thing would be to focus more on rush plays. Carson Beck is not exactly the best QB out there.

Yes, you can easily debate that this guy was ballistic against Umass and Vols, but we have also seen him and the Georgia offense being completely one-dimensional against Ole Miss and a little against the Gators as well.

Focusing on the rushing plays would reduce the stress of mishandling the football during a passing game. Georgia has more than enough rushers who are capable of getting the job done. Just remember, if you lose a national championship game just because “Oh, my hands are cold”, then you probably shouldn’t play football at all.