Nick Saban's plea to Alabama football fans: Get loud vs. Tennessee in Bryant-Denny Stadium
Alabama football coach Nick Saban ended his radio show with a callout to the Crimson Tide faithful on Thursday night:
Get loud vs. Tennessee.
Saban asked for Alabama fans to create a tough environment at Bryant-Denny Stadium ahead of the No. 8 Crimson Tide (6-1, 4-0 SEC) facing No. 15 Tennessee (5-1, 2-1) on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS). The Vols stunned Alabama 52-49 last season in Neyland Stadium, which reached 125.4 decibels to set a stadium record.
It was UT's first win in the series since 2006.
“We talk about what a great rivalry game this is and what a big game it is,” Saban said on the "Hey Coach & The Nick Saban Show." “But it should be a big game for everybody. Everybody’s on the team all the fans, everybody. And the fans in this game should have a huge impact on this game. I mean, you can have a huge impact with the noise that you make.
“This team is trying to go fast. They run 2.7 plays every minute in the game. So, you can affect that and disrupt that by making noise, and it’s going to create energy and environment that our players will play better in, they’ll be able to sustain their intensity better in, which is what we lost last week because it’s gonna take that kind of game for 60 minutes.
“These guys make a lot of explosive plays. They go fast. So, it’s going to be one of those kinds of games, and everybody’s gotta stay with it. You got to play the next play and stay in it as fans, and you create the momentum of the game by what you do as fans. Don’t worry about the players creating that. You create it for them, one time. One time. I’m asking you to do that.”
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Tennessee's upset last season was in front of a sellout crowd Neyland Stadium crowd of 101,915. Vols fans created a raucous home atmosphere and stormed the field after the last-second win, tearing down the goalposts in the process.
The Crimson Tide has won five straight since falling to Texas 34-24 at home on Sept. 9. Tennessee has won three straight since losing at Florida 29-16 on Sept. 16.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nick Saban asks Alabama fans to make Bryant-Denny loud vs. Tennessee
