15th game new territory for Crimson Tide team, fans
Alabama head coach Nick Saban said this championship is unlike any the Crimson Tide has played before. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)
Alabama is bidding for its 16th national championship Monday against Clemson. But the Crimson Tide and its fans are in uncharted waters as they get set for game number 15 on the 2015 schedule.
Prior to this year, each of Alabama’s title bids involved playing a single postseason game. This year, as a result of beating Michigan State in the 80th annual Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, the Tide will have to win a second at 7:30 p.m. in Glendale, Ariz., on ESPN.
Despite his experience in championship games, Nick Saban admitted that tonight’s game is unlike the others.
“We’ve never been in this situation,” he said. “In other championship games that we’ve been in, it was a one-game season.”
The change led the Tide coaching staff to do some homework, researching what Ohio State and Oregon did a year ago when they were in the same position. Saban sought what those coaches did to prepare their teams and he has tried to find the right balance, the right formula to conquer Clemson.
“But you never know until they go out there,” he said. “I’ve seen teams play in bowl games that looked slow and out of shape. I’ve seen teams that looked really fast. I’d rather look really fast but I hope we’re not out of shape because it’s going to be a 60-minute game and there’s going to be more plays and pace of play is going to be really fast. We’re going to have to adapt and adjust to it.”
The Alabama coaches and players aren’t the only ones who have had to adapt. So, too, have fans accustomed to rolling with the Tide wherever the team has gone.
Ashley Olive is the travel coordinator for the Alabama Alumni Association. She saw a lot of Bama fans skip the Cotton Bowl in favor of attending Monday’s title game. Some made that choice, she said, since they had previously gone to Texas when the season began against Wisconsin in Arlington.
“Also, New Orleans (site of last year’s championship game) was a driving distance trip for us, so it was a lot less expensive for folks to go to both,” Olive said. “You can drive to Dallas but not pleasantly. That puts people looking at two flights instead of one. And in most cases, charter flights are very expensive.”
Olive said Alabama didn’t lack for fans in the stands for the semifinal contest since the Tide has a large fan base in Dallas.
“But we definitely had significantly fewer travelers,” she said. “I think Alabama has traveled well for a long time but the more these games up their prices, the more fatigue Alabama fans have. They’ve been spending a lot of money for a long time.”
Olive said the most expensive ticket for Alabama’s 2009 championship at the Rose Bowl was $300. Now, the most expensive College Football Playoff ticket is $650 “and you ask them to buy a $300 ticket to a playoff game,” she said. “What used to be a $300 game ticket is now a $900 expense and that’s a huge increase in five years.
“We’re kind of seeing people getting priced out of the activities.”
