I watched Saban's PC yesterday online and I was a bit surprised by the comments, but I saw the point he was trying to make.
I mean, when I went to the game Saturday, I never dreamed we'd lose to Monroe, and after the game was over, the stunned silence of the crowd was not unlike having a bomb go off at midfield. We've lost to bad teams before, but I've never seen a team absolutely mail it in, on Senior Day yet.
You have to understand, this town has become accustomed to and spoiled by winning all the time. Anytime the football team loses, it is therefore acceptable to question everything from the coin flip to how poorly the marching band plays, why Eli Gold shouldn't be doing play by play, etc.
You ought to read some of the message boards sometimes after a game: we have what's called "meltdown" mode that starts at kickoff or before and continues on until the next game and beyond.
That being said, when we lose to a bottom-tier team, the meltdown magnifies in the stands where no one can understand how we lost the game. It then spills over to sports talkshows and message boards, where some members of the media stir it up even more, knowing that angry fans will keep calling in to whine and moan and improve their ratings.
Heck, last night our basketball team lost to Belmont, not a bad team, but they're not Kentucky either. Meltdown was only interrupted by the fact that one of our former football players, Siran Stacy, was involved in a fatal car wreck and most of his family died.
Oh well, we were in a near identical situation in 2001 and came out and whipped Auburn, so we'll see on Saturday
At the very worst, we can still get a Liberty Bowl bid so we can spend New Year's week in Tunica and gamble and drink our sorrows away