Nearly a decade after its iconic conclusion, Auburn’s win over Alabama in 2013’s frenzied “Kick Six” game laid the pathway for the Tigers’ run to the national championship game, and nearly caused Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban to walk away from the coaching ranks. It also reportedly brought him to tears.
In an excerpt published by CBS Sports from the new book, The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban by Al.com senior sports editor John Talty, former Alabama player Christion Jones described what the Crimson Tide locker room was like in the immediate aftermath of the play, and how nearly everybody in the room—including Saban—was teary-eyed.
“You walk in and everyone is crying. Fifty percent crying and 50 percent tearing up,” Jones said in the book. “Coach Saban was in tears—he could barely talk. His face was red. Everyone was emotional; it was a funeral moment.”
Alabama had won three of the previous four national championships, so being denied a shot at a fourth in five years was certainly a devastating development. That year’s team went on to lose in the Orange Bowl to Oklahoma, in what was the final year of the BCS before the implementation of the College Football Playoff.
Since then, though, the Tide have not missed a beat. Alabama has made it to the CFP in seven out of eight years of its existence, with six national championship game appearances and three titles. The Kick Six loss may have shaken the program like no other defeat and nearly ended Saban’s Alabama career, but the now seven-time national championship coach has certainly recovered from it in historic fashion.
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