Alabama's 40-35 upset loss last Saturday to Vanderbilt stunned the college football world, and for good reason.
Not only did the SEC's most historically decorated program fall to the league's perennial doormat, but the nation's No. 1 team, which beat previously top-ranked Georgia just seven days earlier, was knocked off by a squad that lost three weeks earlier to Georgia State.
The result caught the eye of the man most responsible for building the Crimson Tide into the sport's modern-day dynasty.
While discussing Alabama's loss on ESPN's "College GameDay" Saturday, former Tide coach Nick Saban said that after the 41-34 victory against Georgia on September 28, he saw "a little bit of complacency, almost even arrogance" from the program he once led, which still features many players Saban had coached and recruited.
"That creates blatant disregard for doing what's right preparation wise, ready to play with the kind of balance you need psychologically to be able to compete at a high level," Saban said . "You've got to respect every opponent."
The loss was Alabama's first to Vanderbilt since 1984 and effectively ended whatever honeymoon first-coach Kalen DeBoer was enjoying in his first season on the job. The coach has faced widespread and impassioned criticism in the days since the loss, from his team's play to his choice of clothing.
More than anything, it was the kind of letdown that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to imagine occurring under Saban, who won six national championships at the school over his 17-year tenure. Among other traits, Saban's teams became defined by their preparedness and the psychological edge they possessed.
"I really do think…the thing I always preached to our team was it's all about what you do," Saban said Saturday. "It's all about how you prepare and nothing that you've done in the past is ever going to impact what happens in the future. That's just a learning experience that you have to take with you so that you can improve."
He wasn't the only person on the "College GameDay" set to have noticed the uncharacteristically lackadaisical Tide.
ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard noted that he spoke Friday night to former Alabama running back Mark Ingram , the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner who helped lead the Tide to its first national championship under Saban. Ingram, too, had biting words for the program he loves.
"He told me this would never happen because you always preach about no matter who the team is, no matter what the logo is, we want to go out there and dominate every single time we take the field," Howard said.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Nick Saban says he saw 'complacency,' 'arrogance' from Alabama before Vanderbilt loss
