There is no way of sugar coating it. If you pardon the expression.

Alabama facing Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl on Saturday wasn’t exactly the premier destination the Crimson Tide was aiming for when the season started. This was not just a team built to return to the College Football Playoff but to win in it.

Instead, Nick Saban’s team is set to kick off at 11 a.m. in New Orleans.

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“It’s easily safe to say this is the most disappointing season in the Nick Saban era,” Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt said.

That’s a pretty strong statement, considering the Tide stands at 10-2 and No. 5 in the CFP rankings.

“Well, you had an incumbent Heisman Trophy winner back,” Klatt explained. “You had the best defender (Will Anderson) in college football back. They were the biggest preseason favorite to for a national title since the Reggie Bush USC teams.

“So, we all thought this was going to be an epic great year for Alabama, and it fell woefully short of that.”

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Appearing on ESPN’s “The College Football Show,” Saban said his team started out the season strong but was impacted by an injury to quarterback Bryce Young during an Oct. 1 win at Arkansas.

Young, who injured his throwing shoulder, didn’t play the following week in a 24-20 win against Texas A&M. He returned and Alabama lost on a walk-off field goal at Tennessee.

“I think our team played well down the stretch and are playing well at present,” Saban said.

Saban pointed out how both of the Tide’s losses were against teams that were ranked in the top 10 at the time.

“We lost two games on the road to one top-five team, one top-10 team on the last play of the game,” he said. “But now that (Young is) healthier and he’s able to practice, I think we’re a different team, and I think you should look at the circumstances around a two-loss team versus a one-loss team and how are they playing at the end of the season? How are they playing at the present?”

He also played the “underdog” card.

“I guess I would ask the question: If we played these teams in question, would we be underdogs in the game or not?” he said. “That should answer everybody’s questions relative to who the best teams are at present. That’s how this should play out.”

Saban never looked comfortable when he made those comments. While you certainly can’t blame a coach for campaigning, this is a team that should never have been in the position to have to stump. That’s kind of Klatt’s point.

“No win in a bowl game is going to change that,” Klatt continued.

“They are in New Orleans. Their big guns are playing. And even if they win, that can’t change the fact that this is the most disappointing season in the Nick Saban era for Alabama.

“That’s not a knock. They’ll be back. They’ll be fine in the future.”

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.