Nick Saban made a surprise appearance during the Big Ten championship game to make his case that Alabama should be in the playoffs.
Over the weekend, third and fourth-ranked TCU and USC lost in their conference championship games giving a two loss Alabama a chance to make the playoffs.
On Saturday night, Alabama head coach Nick Saban was given the opportunity to make his sales pitch for Alabama to be included in the college football playoffs during halftime of the Big Ten championship games.
“Well, I think the whole goal is to get the best teams in,” Saban said. “What I would say to the committee or anyone else is if we played any of the teams that are on the edge of getting in, would we be the underdog, or would we be the favorite? I think if you could answer that question and the goal is to get the best teams in, then you would say they belong in there. We lost 2 games on the road in a tough league to 2 top-10 teams, one top-5 team on the last play of the game. We had our opportunities. We weren’t 100%, Bryce Young wasn’t 100%, he was injured in the mid-part of the season.”
Fans tuning into the game were disgusted by Saban’s appearance during the Big Ten championship game.
Why are we giving Nick Saban time for his sales pitch during … the Big Ten title game?
— RockyTopTalk (@RockyTopTalk) December 4, 2022
As if we needed more proof that the entire CFB universe is made up of nothing but glamor program jock-sniffing, witness Nick Saban being allowed to shill for his team, on the Big Ten’s network partner, no less. #BigTenChampionship
— Chris Casquejo (@ChrisCasquejo) December 4, 2022
Wait, Nick Saban at halftime? They’re … inviting him onto the Big Ten’s broadcast to throw shade and lobby for Alabama?
— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) December 4, 2022
Big ten giving Nick Saban the halftime show in big ten championship where he is basically arguing against Ohio state to be in the playoffs is the dumbest thing I have ever seen and cannot believe they would allow this
— G (@glang24) December 4, 2022
.@FOXSports giving Nick Saban a platform to talk his Tide into the final 4 is disgusting. If they make it, cool cool I’m not going to argue. But my god stop the slurping factor and just let the committee pick and give me more Big Ten title analysis.
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) December 4, 2022
Even Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt ripped into Saban for trying to advocate for Alabama to get into the playoffs.
Joel Klatt throwing cold water on Saban coming on at halftime to lobby making the playoff.
Fox advocating for Big Ten teams and ESPN lobbying for SEC and ACC teams is definitely going to be a thing to watch going forward. pic.twitter.com/3cHgqKRSRP
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 4, 2022