Everything is bigger in Texas they say, well this must include Jimbo Fisher’s imagination, as well. While coach Saban’s comments may come across as unwarranted to some, they were never meant to be personal, and he never accused the Texas A&M program of cheating.
Jimbo blew things incredibly out of proportion, and made things personal. It will not be forgotten come Oct. 8 when the Tide and Aggies meet in Tuscaloosa for what will be a tension-packed afternoon.
Fisher’s comments measure all the way from simply not true, to just downright hypocritical. Here’s where Jimbo dropped the ball.
If the shoe fits
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Saban never accused Texas A&M of cheating. While they may have paid players, you are now allowed to do that through NIL deals. However, seeing this type of knee-jerk reaction should certainly raise a few eyebrows. It is also a little weird that despite all of these NIL deals, there are no public campaigns for any of these athletes.
I was born at night, but not last night
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Trying to down play the fact that no money went into these recruits decisions is almost a laughable thought. Outside of 2019, when Texas A&M finished 4th in the recruiting cycle, they have not finished with a top five class in the 21st century. Then new NIL laws are put into action and suddenly they sign the best class of all time. Correlation doesn’t mean causation, but here it does.
Pot calling the kettle black
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While it is fair to fire back at Saban’s comments, it is hard to take a guy like Jimbo serious. He assembles a full-blown press release to call Saban a narcissist. Well isn’t that a little ironic, Jimbo? You can tell he is an ACC coach at heart because he’s cut from the same cloth as poor ol’ Dabo.
Let’s also not act like the majority of Fisher’s success isn’t because of Bobby Bowden, an awful conference, and most importantly Jameis Winston. Without the seasons of Winston, he’s average at best with no legitimate bowl experiences. Outside of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl of course!
Someone needs to slap some sense into Jimbo
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As mentioned above, he was never accused of being a cheater or liar, yet Jimbo still said, “You can call me anything you want. But I don’t cheat and I don’t lie. If you did my old man slapped me across the head. Maybe someone should have slapped him.” Which is also ironic as he tries to call Saban out for cheating at multiple points in his career and not always following the rules. Well, Jimbo would like you to ignore the fact he coached for Saban from 2000-2004 at LSU. So were you cheating with Saban then, or did you lie today Jimbo?
The audacity to also publicly call for Saban to be slapped will certainly come back to bite him in the butt down the road.
Taking the high road
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Jimbo also thought it was unfair of Saban to handle it in the media and “wishes it had been done differently.” Well, 56-year-old Fisher ignored the call from Saban last night which was an attempt to hash things out. Way to be the adult in the room!
Jimbo Fisher said Nick Saban called him. “I didn’t take the call. We’re done. He’s the greatest ever? When you have all the advantages. It’s easy.”
Funny enough, the mighty Jimbo Fisher has the same 34-14 record through 48 games as Kevin Sumlin did who the Aggies were so desperate to replace.
Bend the rules, it will not affect Alabama
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People, including Jimbo, think that Saban’s outburst comes from feeling threatened by the new NIL deals. It’s a shame the Tide finished with the number two recruiting class and landed a handful of elite talent in the transfer portal. Something tells me that Saban and the Tide will be just fine.
