Nick Saban Quotes from Sugar Bowl

I'd like to start by wishing everyone Happy Holidays. It's a great time of the year, our players have a great holiday, and they have certainly worked well since we got here in the first three days of practice. We feel good about the progress that we've made and the carryover we've had from the pre-Christmas practices in Baton Rouge.

We're certainly playing a very challenging team in terms of what they do offensively and what kind of skill players they have. Any team that wins 12 football games and is rated number one has great team speed, plays great defense and plays great defense. Oklahoma certainly does not have many weaknesses. I think our team is the same in a lot of ways in terms of the speed we have, so this should be a great game.

There's always some concern when you play in a bowl game, when you haven't played for three or four weeks, about exactly how you're going to come out and play. But our players are certainly prepared to play this game as if they're going to be ready to go, so we're certainly pleased with that part.

Sooner Sugar Bowl Central

Have you signed an extension, and if you haven't, how close are you? Could something get done this week?
I'm not concerned about that right now, really. I'm very pleased the people at LSU have told me back in the middle of the season that they'd like to do something relative to a contract, and I told them the time to do that would be at the end of the season. I know they've talked to (agent) Jimmy (Sexton) about some things, but I'm not concerned about that until after the season.

How quickly were you able to turn things around to get to play for a national championship? Did it surprise you that you got it done this quickly?
I think you've heard me talk before about how we've been climbing a mountain for four years. We've lost some coaches along the way, lost some players along the way, lost some games along the way, we had some missteps along the way, but all along, I think there has been a lot of convictions to the things that are important to building a program that is recognized as a dominant program nationally. A lot of players have bought into that, worked very hard, we have a very good staff right now from top to bottom, and I think our institution has made a lot of improvements to the program from an academic standpoint, with our academic support program, and they have supported us with everything we have needed to run a successful program.

I think the key has been our efforts in recruiting. We have a good recruiting staff, we have made good evaluations, and those players have developed nicely for us. Not only have those players blended well physically, but the chemistry of this team has been something special to work with, and that's probably why we've had that success.

Each year, each game we've played, each player who has played in the four years that we've been here and contributed to where we are right now in terms of climbing the mountain, and this is an opportunity to reach the summit.

This seems to have been a very purposeful climb. How much of this did you have down on paper when you came to LSU?
I did have a lot of questions when I came here on a legal pad, and I asked most of the questions in the interview. Those questions were about program types of things.

I think that we start off saying we want to help our players as people who have a better chance of being successful in life for having been involved in the program with the lessons and the choices that they make for us. We want them to graduate from school, because that's the way we pay them back, and the way we reinvest in what they do for us. We want them to help them develop as players and make srue we have all the tools, whether it be facilities, good personnel, medical staff, whatever it is to help them develop the best they can, and help them launch their careers once they leave.

Basically, every question I asked had something to do with those four things, and there seemed to be a commitment that I'm very pleased with, and obviously, some of those things have paid off in a positive way for us at least to get where we are now.

How do the kickers, Chris Jackson and Ryan Gaudet, look on the turf and are you closer to making a decision?
Both guys have kicked well, and we'll probably make a decision closer to the game after what is usually our Thursday practice, which will be on Friday this week. We're kind of in a regular game week program now with today being a Monday even though it's Tuesday, because we play on Sunday rather than Saturday. I have to keep things simple that way so I can function properly.

Do you care who wins the Rose Bowl? If not, why?
I don't really care about that game, because there's nothing we can do about that game. I think our game is the most significant thing that we have an opportunity to affect. It's an opportunity to win the 13th game for us, and I feel there will be enough accolades for everyone to go around, and the team that wins our game will get recognized for it.

Although Oklahoma's passing game has gotten the recognition, what about their running game?
I think that Oklahoma has enough balance in their offensive that they can beat you a number of different ways. They make a lot of big plays with their offense, throw a lot of screens and loose plays, but they are also effective running the ball.

Sometimes when you compromise too much to stop some of those things in the passing game, they can be effective running the ball. Therefore, I think you have to mix things up and try to keep some balance on defense, and not give them big plays whether they throw it short or deep, because they throw a lot of screens and short plays with which they have the skill players to turn it into big plays.

Whether they run or throw it, you have to get the down and distance in your favor so you can be a little more aggressive in terms of what you do.

Nationally, most people think Oklahoma doesn't deserve to be here, but is a 6-point favorite. Do you believe that LSU and Oklahoma are the best two teams?
I don't think anyone knows that for sure. We have a system, I respect that system, and the system says that we're the best two teams relative to all the input that we've had to develop that system. We all started the season thinking that this is the system we have, that we're going to be loyal to that system and have respect for it. That's the way we played it, and I said after the SEC championship game when a lot of people didn't think we would get here.

The system is not equipped to handle three very closely ranked teams at the top. I think in their own way, all three of those football teams are very, very good football teams.

What schemes and philosophies from the NFL have helped you at the college level?
I think that because when I was in the NFL, the game was a bit more wide open at the time than it was in college when I left college in 1991, probably that experience has helped me develop a little more open type of attitude relative to how we play offense and how we adjust on defense, which is what I was involved with.

Probably bigger than all that, it probably contributed to a large degree to coaching players individually and not coaching them all the same. I think the biggest difference in coaching college and the NFL is that when an owner pays a guy, whether he can backpedal or can't backpedal, catch or can't catch, it doesn't matter, you'd better be able to utilize him.

When we signed Pepper (Johnson) in Cleveland from the Giants, he was making a lot of money, but he didn't even have his equipment yet, and (then-Browns owner) Art (Modell) was in the deep middle standing with me saying, Where's Pepper? Why isn't he in there?' He didn't understand over and under (schemes). But you had to understand each player individually so that they could play well doing the things they do best. That's something that I have tried to bring back to college, and hopefully, that has helped a few players who have had different skills to develop in different ways and maybe become better players.

How do you think your players are handling the "clutter" you described on Sunday?
I think the players are doing fine. The focus and the concentration when we've been in meetings or in practice has been good, and I think they've shown some maturity in how they've been able to have a good time. I certainly enjoyed the riverboat, and they made me get up and do a James Brown shuffle, and I've been hearing about that for several days now. I also had the opportunity to see a few players dance, and maybe during some of the off-season program, instead of karate, some of them will need dance lessons.

What about Steve Spurrier's resignation from the Washington Redskins?
I'm a little surprised by that. That's the first I've heard of that, and I wasn't aware of that. I have all the respect in the world for Steve Spurrier; he was definitely the dean of coaches in our league in terms of the program he had at Florida in terms of how they played on offense, how they played as a team, the games they won and the success that they had. Sometimes, you can't control your destiny as a pro coach if you don't have an infrastructure around you that is helpful to develop what you want. I don't know what his situation was there, but regardless of what happened, I still have a tremendous amount of respect of what he has accomplished as a coach. Contrary to what a lot of people in Louisiana think, I kind of like the guy.

Has your philosophy on NFL rumors changed? Do you try to use them to your advantage?
Since it's happened so many times since 1997 when it started with the Giants when Jim Fassel got the job, I think the proof is in the pudding relative to that job; the guy went to the Super Bowl and now he doesn't have a job, and I think he's a very good coach. I've just kind of learned to deal with it over time, my family has learned to deal with it, I think our players have learned to deal with, we've learned to deal with it in recruiting. It seems to happen each year, but we have some fairly good recruiting classes, and we have one again this year.

How much pride do you have in your first recruiting class?
I hate to say this, we weren't even recruiting (defensive back) Randall Gay when I first got to LSU, and we weren't recruiting (cornerback) Corey Webster or (backup quarterback) Marcus Randall or other guys who have been significant contributors in this class. I called Randall Gay when he was visiting Alabama at the hotel he was staying at in Tuscaloosa. I feel really good about what this group has done, and when you're the first group to come in, you obviously have to deal with the players that were there, that have been there, and you're the new coach's guy, they're the old coaches' guys, and how that chemistry all fits togther and works together.

I think those guys have provided a tremendous amount of leadership for the program and a great example, and I'm proud of that group.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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