Nick Saban: It's "Poison" for Players To Be Concerned About Meaningless Playoff Poll This Early

Nick Saban was asked about how he feels about the first college football playoff poll, which comes out tonight, and if you thought that just maybe he concerns himself with such nonsense then oh boy are you sorely mistaken.

“I could care less about the poll,” Saban answered. “What significance does a poll have now? All we’re talking about is the challenge of our season and where we’re gonna be in the poll if we don’t play well in the next four games. I’m focusing on the next four games. I could care less about the poll. You won’t see me wasting any time watching TV or watching who’s 1 or who’s 2 and it really doesn’t matter.”

“What really matters is how you play the rest of the season, how you focus the rest of the season. If our players think anything of it then that can be a problem and an issue too. These are the things that we try to categorize as poison that you really don’t want your players to be focusing on or thinking about. But I appreciate your asking so I could get this off my chest.”

This is the second time in about three weeks Saban has used the “poison” analogy — he’s getting a lot of mileage there!

But in all seriousness, he’s right about the playoff poll being meaningless this time of year, especially as it pertains to Alabama, one of just a few teams remaining that controls their own destiny. If they win out, they’re in the playoffs. If they lose a game at some point, well, then the inherent subjectivity of these polls begins to matter a whole lot.