Every Thursday throughout college football season, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been appearing on the Pat McAfee show to talk about his team, college football in general, and whatever else may come up.

With the Tide coming off an SEC Championship victory and a nationwide debate about its selection to the College Football Playoff going on, it wasn’t a question what direction the conversation was going to go this week.

When speaking about the upcoming Rose Bowl matchup against Michigan, Saban talked about his team’s mindset and the fact that he believes his team still has a lot to prove:

“I think our team still has a lot to prove, there’s a lot of naysayers out there that think we shouldn’t have gotten into the playoff and we have the opportunity to prove that,” Saban stated in a reference to the LANK mantra that the Crimson Tide have adapted this season to “let all naysayers know”.

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He also spoke about the challenge of facing Michigan and his team’s mindset going in:

“I think they know they’re gonna be playing a really good team. They just played the number one team in the country and they get the opportunity to do that again…our team knows what the challenge is, the key to the drill is to be able to focus that energy and passion into positive execution. You’ve gotta be able to play your best football when your best football is needed.”