http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/sports/ncaafootball/alabama-nick-saban-pursuing-perfection.html 2016-10-07 11:39:28 Alabama Is Hard on Opponents. On Itself, Even Harder. For the top-ranked and unbeaten Crimson Tide, who were to enter a brutal four-game stretch Saturday, there is always room for improvement. === Alabama Coach Nick Saban wore a countenance both of sorrow and of anger as he emerged from the locker room after his team’s season opener last month. “We need to improve as a team,” he said. “We need to get more guys that can play winning football and create more depth on our team, more guys to contribute on special teams.” Saban continued: “We have got to build around the very good players that we have, but we have to get more consistent execution.” He added: “If you want to know the truth about it, I wasn’t pleased with the way we played.” How badly had the Crimson Tide lost? Actually, they had just As incongruous as Saban’s criticism of his team’s performance seemed, it was more notable that several of his players shared his negative outlook when they spoke to the news media. “At the end of the day, if we’re not playing our best, then it’s not a good game,” said Harris, he of the 138 yards. “It’s always a positive, it’s always good,” defensive lineman Jonathan Allen said as a qualifier, not the central point, while assessing the Trojans’ failure to score a touchdown. “But as I said, I feel like there’s a lot of plays that we left out there as a defense. They only scored 6 points — they could have scored way more.” At Alabama, there is always room for improvement. Even if the Crimson Tide — now 5-0 and ranked No. 1 since the start of the season — make it unscathed through a brutal four-game stretch that was to begin Saturday at No. 16 Arkansas (4-1), expect plenty of self-recrimination. “We allowed some big plays, made some errors and there are some things we need to work on,” safety Eddie Jackson, a senior, said after Alabama’s 48-43 victory last month at then-No. 14 Mississippi, the only Southeastern Conference team to beat Alabama since 2013. “We have to get better and keep working,” wide receiver Calvin Ridley added after a 34-6 win over Kentucky on Oct. 1 in which Ridley, a sophomore, caught 11 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. Saban’s perpetual dourness is only somewhat surprising. The coach, quite possibly the best in college football history, preaches Although Saban’s personality is anything but Zen, his outlook can seem rather Eastern, reminiscent of the koan that states: Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. “What we try to do with our players is be very technical about the things that they did well and get them positive self-gratification with those things,” Saban said recently. But, he added, they also don’t overlook mistakes “just because we won the game.” Harris said the players imbibed this message. “That’s how he is, that’s how he coaches us, and that’s how we are as a team,” he said. “We enjoy our victories, but at the end of the day, we watch film, we see the mistakes we made, and we’re not satisfied.” Greg McElroy, an ESPN commentator who played quarterback on Saban’s first national championship team at Alabama, in 2009, said that it helped to know that nothing would alter Saban’s disposition — that the same things would be demanded no matter a game’s result. “He’s the same guy after a big win as a crushing loss,” McElroy said. “That’s why the team never really fluctuates.” He added: “I’m not kidding when I say this: We could be playing Texas in the national championship game or Western Carolina, and it was the same guy.” Or as an enlightened Saban might put it: Before beating Auburn, practice hard, study film; after beating Auburn, practice hard, study film. The outlook has plainly trickled down to the players, who, like several dozen mini-Sabans, seem to go out of their way to find things wrong with themselves. “You always have to be self-critical,” Allen, a senior, said after the U.S.C. game. “I feel like that’s how we’ve been able to maintain our excellence for so long.” Asked if he had seen his coach’s just-concluded news conference, Allen said, “I don’t really watch the interviews.” Then he cracked his first smile in his own interview. “But I probably have a general idea of how it went.”