Earlier in the week, Nick Saban was questioned about the University of Central Florida’s self-proclaimed “National Champion” status after finishing their season 11-0. Saban, coming off winning the actual national championship this past season in thrilling fashion against Georgia, had this to say about UCF:
“I guess anybody has the prerogative to claim anything. But self-proclaimed is not the same as actually earning it. And there’s probably a significant number of people who don’t respect people who make self-proclaimed sort of accolades for themselves.”
It seems like the self-proclaimed champions may have gotten to Saban. While he did go on to praise UCF for their accomplishments, the take-away here is that Saban isn’t too pleased with UCF’s banners, rings, and supposed national championship status. But what a great line from the coach: “And there’s probably a significant number of people who don’t respect people who make self-proclaimed sort of accolades for themselves.” It really doesn’t get much more petty than that. There’s probably someone out there who isn’t taking UCF too seriously, but there’s no way Saban could be that guy.
Right.
Anyways, Danny Kanell, ESPN anchor, took to Twitter, responding to Saban’s comments on UCF.
Not sure how you can say you “earned” a national title when you didn’t win your conference and were GIFTED an invitation to the CFB Invitational. But yes…congrats on being the best of those invited four teams. #rolldamntide
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) May 16, 2018
Well, it’s pretty clear that Danny isn’t the type of guy to yell “Roll Tide” every waking chance he gets. Alabama did get a questionable invitation to the College Football Playoff after finishing second to Georgia in the SEC, but is Alabama really going to be left out of the Playoff? Absolutely not. Still, Danny kept on Tweeting about the football giant.
Throwing shade at a university who ran the table and beat the best team in the SEC seems petty. Calling them out for “self-proclaimed” titles is downright hypocritical considering half your school’s titles are self proclaimed.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) May 16, 2018
There’s the kicker. That’s the shot he was looking for. Alabama’s only loss came at the hands of Auburn in the Iron Bowl, who UCF later defeated in the Peach Bowl. There was probably a significant number of people who didn’t respect the decision to let Bama into the playoff. Sound familiar? Kanell just threw a whole tank of gas on the flames.
There’s no way Saban doesn’t come back with some sort of shot at UCF or Kanell. Being the evil genius that he is, he’ll probably wrap them up together in a nice little petty-fueled presser and tie a bow on the whole situation. While it is fun to take shots at the top dog, Alabama is that top dog for a reason. Saban just doesn’t know how to lose, whether it’s in regards to the toughest conference in Division I football or in a heated offseason war of words.