Getty Alabama could push one of Nick Saban's coaching rivals towards being fired during their Week 6 matchup (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
After Texas A&M upset Alabama 41-38 on October 9, 2021, former Nick Saban assistant, Jimbo Fisher, had his hype train reach unfathomable levels. The Aggies were a popular preseason College Football Playoff pick over the summer, but that has since changed in the wake of a 3-2 start to the 2022 season that includes losses to Appalachian State and Mississippi State.
The quarterback situation in College Station has been in flux with Haynes King losing the starting job to LSU transfer Max Johnson. While Texas A&M’s defense has been forcing turnovers, the offense has not been producing enough against Power Five teams and their record reflects that.
If Fisher can’t right the ship, it appears as though he could be headed towards a historic buyout in East Central Texas. Paul Finebaum revealed during his Week 5 recap with ESPN’s Matt Barrie that Texas A&M’s top boosters would be willing to pay his buyout if things continue to trend poorly for the Aggies.
Nick Saban Can Get Revenge For Jimbo Fisher’s Attacks On Him
On May 18, a silent war was started when Nick Saban made comments about Texas A&M giving under-the-table deals to recruits at an Alabama business leaders summit. “We were second in recruiting last year, A&M was first,” Saban said. “A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it.”
That provoked Jimbo Fisher to fire back with a scathing response during an impromptu press conference the next day. “Some people think they’re God,” Fisher said. “Go dig into how God did his deal. You may find out about a guy, a lot of things you don’t want to know. We build him up to be the czar of football. Go dig into his past.”
Now, with Alabama rolling with a 5-0 record and fresh off a destruction of the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Saban can get revenge in the form of sending Fisher’s Aggies to a 3-3 record at the regular season’s halfway point.
Nick Saban Also Called Out Deion Sanders And Jim Larrañaga
Nick Saban didn’t just call out Jimbo Fisher during that notorious May 18 Alabama business leaders summit. He also took aim at Jackson State’s head football coach Deion Sanders and Miami’s head basketball coach, Jim Larrañaga.
“Read about it in the paper,” Saban said. “Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to the school. And they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it. These guys at Miami that are going to play basketball for $400,000, it’s in the newspaper. The guy tells you how he’s doing it. But the NCAA can’t enforce their rules because it’s not against the law.”
What’s interesting about those comments is that Deion Sanders was recently linked to the Auburn head coaching role, which could be vacated by season’s end as Bryan Harsin leads a Tigers team that hasn’t beaten a Power Five program since October 30, 2021 against Ole Miss, by FOX sports analyst Joel Klatt.