Alabama Football: Nick Saban's Process the Problem vs. Texas A&M

For the first time since Saturday night's loss to Texas A&M, Alabama head coach Nick Saban met with reporters on Monday during his regularly scheduled game week press conference.

It's not surprising that Western Carolina, this week's opponent for the Crimson Tide, wasn't exactly at the top of mind.

Saban suggested that, even though the Tide won its previous game vs. LSU 21-17, he would put it and the loss to A&M in the same category (via: Associated Press):

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The last two games, I'd put both those in the same category. We didn't play as well as a team. You all (reporters) don't think so because we won one and we lost the other one. If we'd have won this one, you wouldn't have been concerned now either. I was concerned then.

You all live in the results world out there. We kind of live in the process world. It's hard to get people to respond.

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Process creates results, and that's where Saban's system failed. 

If Saban was treating the game against LSU as a loss, it didn't shine through during game-week preparation. His defense was ill-prepared for Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel and the dynamic Aggie offense.

Once Texas A&M put the Tide into a 20-0 hole, it was too late. Alabama isn't a team that's accustomed to playing from behind; and while they got back into the game, it the Crimson Tide was way out of its comfort zone from the moment toe met leather.

Saban and his staff was simply out-coached by Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

He so much as admitted it on Monday.

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I don't think we understood how important every game was. I don't think we understood that you can get beat week in and week out in the SEC, and it showed.

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That's not like Saban at all. The sixth-year head coach's 24-hour rule that tells players to celebrate big wins for 24 hours is well-documented. But it's up to the staff to properly enforce it, and that was part of the problem vs. the Aggies.

It's not often that we talk about an Alabama team being out-coached. That's why they have been so successful over the last five years. The Tide have superior talent and superior coaches.

The coaches didn't do their jobs during game week last week, which is why the players didn't on Saturday.

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