CFB AM: Saban says Ohio State is best SEC team he has seen all year

Published Dec. 31, 2014 9:45 a.m. ET

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Teddy Mitrosilis

There are still some who believe Ohio State doesn’t have much of a chance to hang with Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday, with the thought typically being the Buckeyes are an overhyped product of a weak Big Ten rather than a legitimately good team that comes from a weaker league.

Nick Saban doesn’t agree with those voices.

Alabama’s head coach made the media rounds on Tuesday in New Orleans and said that Ohio State is the best SEC team -– yes, you read that correctly –- the Crimson Tide have seen all year.

"These guys are going to look like the best SEC team that you saw all season long, if you're an Alabama fan," Saban said on his radio show. "They've got really good skill players outside and great speed. ... People view the Big Ten as not having great skill guys, not having great speed -- this is not true with Ohio State. They have all those things."

Saban has preached for weeks about how talented the Buckeyes are, and it wasn’t just to keep his team on edge. There is little question Ohio State can compete with anyone in the SEC, and that’s validated coming from Saban.

Here’s some more of Saban’s remarks from Media Day:

On Alabama playing an underdog role: "This team's kind of like a David in a way -- they're a little bit of an underdog. People don't remember, but after we lost to Ole Miss they not only said that this team was done (but) the whole Alabama era was done, we wouldn't win any more games and we wouldn't do anything at all and this team responded ... so I really love this team."

On offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin: "Look, there's no doubt, there's never been any doubt about how good a coach Lane Kiffin really is, when it comes to coaching players, being an offensive coordinator, being a play-caller. The guy did a phenomenal job the year that he was at Tennessee with the team that he inherited. ... All the issues he's had don't have anything to do with being a coach or coaching players on the field. We weren't hiring him to do all that other stuff. We were hiring him to be a coach on the field. So if you really have a goal or objective in mind for what you're looking for in terms of someone who's very, very talented and does a really good job at that particular thing -- which he has done an outstanding job for us -- it doesn't surprise me at all.

On coaches making a lot of money after initial (and inaccurate) reports of Jim Harbaugh getting $8 million per year at Michigan: “The only thing that I can say to that is, what kind of value do you create for the university? If you create value for the university and you look at it from that standpoint, then I think that there’s a relative amount that someone’s worth based on that. And I don’t really spend a lot of time trying to figure that out, so I really can’t tell you exactly what that is or what it should be. But I think administrators probably have a better feel for that and have to make a determination as to what someone’s worth relative to the value they create for their institution.”

On the NFL chatter: "As I've talked about before, I think sometimes you've got to pick what you want your legacy to be. Where do you get the most positive self-gratification from, what you want to be and where you think you have the best impact on people. We're extremely happy with being a college coach and what we've been able to do as a college coach and the challenges we have in trying to continue to do it."

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. Other than introducing Jim Harbaugh as Michigan’s new football coach and watching media and fans ask him if he’s going to be the Wolverines’ savior, it was a quiet Tuesday in Ann Arbor. No big deal. Harbaugh spoke passionately about this homecoming for him, returning to where he played college ball, and the great expectations he has for Michigan in the future. Despite Harbaugh almost tripping on his way into the press conference -- “A lesser athlete would have went down,” he laughed when at the podium -- the day couldn’t have been more perfect for him and Michigan.

A local bank came up with some clever signs to welcome the new head coach. SI’s Michael Rosenberg spoke with Harbaugh prior to Michigan’s formal announcement about what coming back to Michigan means for him and his family. The Sacramento Bee’s Matt Barrows has a few tips to Michigan for operating the Harbaugh machine they just purchased. Harbaugh -- who will make around $5 million in 2015 and then probably have his deal restructured to reflect market conditions after Year 1 -- insisted that he not be made college football’s highest-paid coach.

And before we turn the Harbaugh page, I loved this coming home video someone made and put on YouTube. Well done.

2. Notre Dame ended its season in a really nice way by beating No. 23 LSU, 31-28, in the Music City Bowl. Sophomore QB Malik Zaire got the start and gave Irish fans something to look forward to in 2015, going 12-of-15 with a TD (only 96 yards passing) and also rushing for 96 yards and a TD. However, it was LSU freshman RB Leonard Fournette who was the star of the game. Fournette had 143 yards and two TDs on 11 carries and also took a kickoff return back to the house for another score.

He’ll be on a lot of early Heisman lists entering his sophomore season in Baton Rouge.

3. Here’s your bowl slate and TV viewing info for today: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl – No. 9 Ole Miss vs. No. 6 TCU (12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN); Fiesta Bowl – No. 20 Boise State vs. No. 10 Arizona (4 p.m. ET, ESPN); Orange Bowl – No. 7 Mississippi State vs. No. 12 Georgia Tech (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

1. The other two bowl games from Tuesday: No. 13 Georgia beat No. 21 Louisville in the Belk Bowl, 37-14, as UGA freshman RB Nick Chubb tore up the Cardinals for 266 yards rushing and two TDs on 33 carries. It was a career-high for Chubb and the second-most rushing yards in school history behind Herschel Walker’s 283 against Vanderbilt in 1980. Next fall will be interesting for UGA, as the Bulldogs break in a new QB and make Chubb the center of the offense with Todd Gurley heading to the NFL. There were also rumors that head coach Mark Richt would step down after the Belk Bowl, which he quickly shot down after the game.

In the nightcap, Stanford smacked Maryland, 45-21, in the Foster Farms Bowl. Senior Cardinal QB Kevin Hogan had a nice final night, going 14-of-20 for 189 yards and two TDs. Senior Stanford running back Remound Wright added three scores and 49 yards on six carries.

2. I love Alabama freshman linebacker Rashaan Evans for admitting Bourbon Street is the best part of the Tide’s trip to New Orleans, but I can’t believe he said it knowing surely it’d get back to Nick Saban (click on X in bottom right corner if you can’t hear).

3. Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin dismissed student assistant Mike Richardson after he hit two West Virginia players on the sideline of Monday’s Liberty Bowl. "I am extremely disappointed and embarrassed, as his behavior reflected poorly on our program," Sumlin said in a press release. Here is both incidents stuffed into one Vine:

There’s no place for that, and hopefully Richardson understands that now. And hopefully, in time, another coach gives him an opportunity to move past it and continue to pursue a coaching career if that’s what he wants and he demonstrates these actions aren’t who he is.

In less serious Aggie news, Sumlin jokingly fired his pool guy on Twitter after said pool guy tweeted something about seeing Sumlin on the phone and wondering if he was talking to the Aggies’ new defensive coordinator, which reports indicate looks like it’ll be LSU’s John Chavis.

THREE THINGS YOU MAY WANT TO KNOW

1. The Oregon coaching staff has $1.38 million in bonuses riding on how the Ducks play in the first College Football Playoff. That’s more than the other three participating staffs combined.

2. Want to see a guy with incredible talent? Watch this dude make Oregon pancakes.

3. If you’re a baby born on New Year’s Day in Columbus, you’re going to have quite a keepsake.

LASTLY

* Enjoyed Brian Hamilton on Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman juggling two jobs –- the one he currently has at Ohio State and his duties as the next head coach at Houston –- while preparing to play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

* This was the year of the freshman running back, writes Bill Connelly.

* An Oregon newspaper poked a little fun at Jameis Winston.

* Happy New Year's Eve, everybody. Please celebrate joyfully, but also safely. I hope 2015 is filled with health and happiness for you and your families.

Teddy Mitrosilis is an editor and writer for FOXSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TMitrosilis and email him at tmitrosilis@gmail.com.

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