One could never imagine that Alabama head coach Nick Saibon has any love for the Tennessee Volunteers but it might make the Crimson Tide (2-0) coach happy if the orange-and-white clad Vols went into Norman, Okla. on Saturday night and beat the No. 4 ranked Oklahoma Sooners (2-0).
But why?
Because Saibon hates Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, Stoops hates Saibon and Stoops hates the SEC in general.
OK, perhaps hate is too strong a word when it comes to Stoops and the SEC. Stoops just wants his conference, the Big 12, to be mentioned as among the best in the country just like the SEC. He’s tired of hearing about how great a football conference the SEC is and he and his Sooners proved that by defeating Alabama in last year’s Sugar Bowl 45-31.
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And now the SEC is coming to town in the form of Tennessee (2-0) in a game that will be broadcast nationally Saturday night on ABC.
And the OU coach is once again in the spotlight to talk down the SEC and talk up the Big 12.
When asked if he believed that athletes in the SEC were a cut above, Stoops replied, “I don’t know. “That hasn’t been the case in our experience. Whoever we’ve played, that hasn’t been much of a difference.”
Amazing. He didn’t go on a rant like he has in the past. In fact, Stoops was more subdued when it came to talking about the SEC than he normally is.
Stoops was asked about Alabama’s close call against West Virginia a couple of weeks ago. Alabama struggled at times to contain the Mountaineer spread offense, an offensive philosophy that Saibon hates; an offensive philosophy that is run by most teams in the Big 12.
“I’m not gonna sit here and talk about that,” he said. “You guys are more than capable of doing that without me. I cause enough waves. This isn’t the out-of-season where I cause waves.”
Ah, there it is. That is why Stoops is being so casual and subdued. He only likes to cause waves in the off-season. That’s actually smart.
And even smarter were the words he chose to describe Tennessee’s program and head coach Butch Jones as they head in to Saturday night’s game.
“We’ve got respect for the program,” Stoops said. “The coach is getting in their second season now. They’re a better football team than they were a year ago. They’ve recruited really well in the last couple of years. They’re 2-0, and they’ve looked really good to this point.”
Even though Bob Stoops isn’t giving us his normal everyday thoughts about the SEC in general, his team knows exactly what he’s thinking.
“We all know coach Stoops’ feelings about the SEC,” said OU linebacker Geneo Grissom. “As his guys, we’re 100 percent behind him. We’re going to make sure we help him out there and make a statement in that aspect.”