COLLEGE STATION, Texas — If you were close enough, mere feet away, just outside of the circle of security that surrounded Nick Saban, you could hear the words he uttered to his wife.
As he paced off Kyle Field on Saturday evening, his Alabama team 26-20 victors over Texas A&M in an ugly slobberknocker, he embraced Terry Saban with a look of astonishment, almost amazement, dumbfounded even.
He whispered the words to her, “Was that hard or what?” as he shook his head in disbelief.
And then, just moments later, tucked in what must be the smallest room within one of the country’s most mammoth stadiums, he told the media, in so many words, the same.