Skip to main content

Even Miss Terry Susceptible to 'Relief Syndrome' after Big Wins for Alabama

Alabama football coach Nick Saban has little patience for fans, players or even his wife overlooking Kentucky and Chattanooga.

Alabama football is riding high after two of its biggest wins of the season over Tennessee and LSU. The No. 8 Crimson Tide (8-1, 6-0 SEC) is now one win away from clinching the SEC West with a win at Kentucky this Saturday. 

It would be easy for players and fans to potentially start looking ahead to the SEC Championship or even the Iron Bowl at the end of the regular season. But not if Nick Saban has anything to say about, even to his own wife of over 50 years, Miss Terry. 

"I had to straighten her out this week with relief syndrome, too," Saban shared Thursday afternoon on The Pat McAfee Show. "I wake up on Sunday morning, and she looks at me and says, ‘Man, it’s going to be hard playing at Auburn.’

"I said, ‘What you talking about? Are you kidding me? We’ve got to play Kentucky this week, and then Chattanooga the next week. We’ll worry about that when we get to that.’

I said, ‘You’ve got relief syndrome like everybody else. It’s pervasive. The fans have it. Everybody has it. We can’t have it. Get focused on what’s in front of us right now.’"

Earlier in the week, Saban talked about the challenge of playing Kentucky, but players like Malachi Moore and Jalen Milroe talked about viewing every game like an elimination game since the Texas loss. So, despite the early start time with the 11 a.m. CT kickoff, the players understand the task at hand this week against the Wildcats.