Alabama football coach Nick Saban appeared live on the ESPN College GameDay set Saturday morning, and intimated that his team perhaps played “too emotional” in big games in 2022.

Saban was likely referring to not only close losses to Tennessee and LSU a year ago, but also to narrow victories over Texas and Texas A&M. It just so happens that the third-ranked Crimson Tide has another big game on Saturday night, hosting No. 11 Texas at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

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“I think all the games are important and obviously when you’re playing a really good team, there’s a challenge to that,” Saban said. “Some people talk about pressure, but pressure really is critical. If you’ve got pressure in the game that means you did something to deserve it or to get it or earn it or whatever. It’s kind of a privilege to embrace, for your team.

“I think one of the things that was an issue for us last year is we played almost too emotional in some big games and made a lot of poor decisions that led to mental errors that were very costly. Hopefully, you want to play with emotion, but people can put their energy into the technical execution that’s going to help them play well.”

Saban was also asked about the “personality” of this year’s team. He said they had “good chemistry” and few “energy vampires,” that is, players who create a negative environment around the team. (For what it’s worth, Saban made a similar comment in the 2022 preseason and prior to the season-ending Sugar Bowl.)

“I like this year’s personality,” Saban said. “These guys have fun playing, they work hard. They’ve got really chemistry. We don’t have a lot of negative … I call them ‘energy vampires’ — guys that constantly need attention, doing things they’re not supposed to do. These guys have bought in, and they’re doing things the right way.”

Other comments Saban made on the ESPN set …

On the challenge of a new season, with new players and coaches

“It’s a challenge. Every team is a challenge, a new challenge. There’s new leadership on every team, new roles, new coaches. All these things that have been done in the past have nothing to do with what’s going to be done in the future.

“So you’re kind of driven, you continue to have a standard that you really want to work to and you want to see the program aspire to. And that’s the challenge that I love.”

On facing a good team like Texas early in the season

“This is a test, obviously, an early-in-the-season test, and let’s see where we’re at. It’s kind of like taking a midterm. You’re ready, you’ve worked hard to prepare, and everybody’s got to go out and play well against a good team.”

On injury issues for the Crimson Tide this week, particularly in the secondary

“I think the continuity in the back end defensively was a little bit of a management issue for us early in the week this week, not having those guys there while the coaches made all these adjustments. But I think we’ve got it, I think they get it. Sark is a very good coach and it’s going to be a challenge for our defense to play them, but I think we’re ready for it.”

(NOTE: It has been reported that defensive back Malachi Moore will play on Saturday night).

On taking losses ‘personally’ and properly channeling emotion

“One of the things I think that motivates people is external factors. They take a lot of things personally. And you want to take things personally. That’s OK, as long as you channel that energy into technical, intentional focus and execution. If you make it make you emotional, then you make poor judgments and decisions and you don’t function like you would normally want to. And that’s a problem, because you get a lot of penalties, you make some errors that are very costly. We’re trying to find that right balance with our players.”