Nick Saban on Ole Miss: ‘This is a Great Opportunity for Our Team’

Nick Saban spoke to the media one final time before his team travels to Mississippi for the conference opener against Ole Miss, and the head coach laid out the opportunity this weekend for his football team.

"Great players, great teams, they're respected, revered, remembered by what they've earned, by what they've accomplished, and what they've done," Saban said. "That comes from their commitment to excellence and the standard that they have in terms of everything that they do. This is not something you can buy. You can't borrow it. You can't find it anywhere. It has to come from within you. I think every team has to prove that they have that.

"I believe that we have it, but it comes from within you."

The press conference only lasted about seven minutes, but you could sense that the team has been locked in on the opportunity that awaits.

"We've had a better week of practice. Players have been more focused. This is a difficult preparation trying to get the scout team to do no-huddle for the offense and trying to work out some of the bugs and some of the mistakes that we need to get corrected from a week ago."

The biggest opportunity (and challenge) on Saturday will come at the hands and feet of quarterback Jalen Hurts. The true freshman will make his first SEC and road start against a team full of confidence after two straight wins over Alabama, but Saban likes the traits he's seen from the Texas native.

"The thing that I like about him is he doesn't get frustrated. He doesn't get all discombobulated. He's got a lot of poise. I think he's got a lot of inner confidence. He believes that he can do it. It's important to him. He wants to do it. And I think we have to trust that that's going to help him develop and do things the kind of things he needs to do."

We'll know much more about this 2016 Alabama team by Saturday evening. You can get full gameday coverage of the top 25 matchup on Tide 102.9 beginning at 9:30 AM.