Teacher vs. Student: It Still Often Works to Nick Saban's Advantage

The Alabama head coach talks the advantages and disadvantages of competing against former assistants.

When Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban takes on Steve Sarkisian this Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium, it will be his 31st contest against coaches who've served on his staff.

Remarkably the seven-time national champion has a 28-2 record against his former assistant coaches, having only lost to Jimbo Fisher and Kirby Smart in the last two seasons.

So what magic spell does Saban have over his former coaches?

"What the question would be is, does somebody else know more about what we know than what they know? Yeah, is it an advantage to the other guy that he knows what we do? But we also know what they do, so I don’t know how you put that on a scale and say that it’s more advantageous to one person than the other," said Saban on Wednesday.

"We always try to focus on what we gotta do with our players to try and get them to play good and not really worry too much about the other guys. But there could be some terminology things that if you don’t change it up, they might be able to take advantage and I think we're aware of those things, trying to make sure that we don’t give them any advantages, but I think it kind of goes both ways."

Last season's matchup with the Longhorns started off quickly with Sarkisian's squad scoring 10 points on the first two offensive possessions leading many to question if the understudy had the teacher's number. 

A key quarterback injury, followed by the Crimson Tide settling into the game proved that Saban still had his secret sauce. Eventually, Alabama emerged with a one-point victory and the strong record against assistants improved, but each new contest provides an opportunity for the student to best the teacher.

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Nick Saban on Steve Sarkisian: 'I Was Glad I Gave Him a Second Chance'