A day after most Americans celebrated Thanksgiving with the traditional turkey and dressing dinner, LSU coach Nick Saban embodied the true meaning of the holiday by giving thanks to supporters of the Tigers football team after a 55-24 drubbing of Arkansas.
Saban ran toward the student body after the game as he always does and gave the fans the usual thumbs up. But he also took a microphone that was wired to the stadium sound system and expressed his appreciation in words.
“We’ve had great fan support this year, had a great crowd today,” Saban said at his postgame press conference. “We’ve always tried to show the fans our appreciation. I do it for our team because I know how much it means to them that we have such fan support.”
The gesture also symbolized the ownership of the program for everyone that participates, not just players and coaches, Saban said.
“There’s too much this is my team, your team,” Saban said. “It’s our team. As an institution it’s our team. As a department it’s our team. As a group of students it’s our team. Everybody contributes to the success of our team in their own way. And the fan support that we’ve had, and the enthusiasm and the passion that we have around here is a real catalyst for us in terms of the emotion that it creates and also the atmosphere it creates to be able to recruit in the future.”
Saban also praised the efforts of the athletic administration, especially Chancellor Mark Emmert and Athletics Director Skip Bertman.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate, we appreciate, the players appreciate the way … everyone has been very supportive of making this a great program,” Saban said. “I think people recognize that, and that’s why we have a chance to have good players who have good character who go out and compete well. And I’m proud of that, I’m very proud of that. But this victory is for everybody, for everybody in Louisiana who cares anything about LSU football.”
The players were not left out, as Saban gave special thanks for their maturity and chemistry that gave the Tigers an opportunity to have the only 11-win season since 1958 when LSU won the national championship.
“It’s for our players who I think have done a remarkable job,” Saban said. “This is one of the best team chemistry groups I’ve ever been associated with.”
Tigers quarterback Matt Mauck backed Saban’s decision to thank the fans.
“They deserve it,” Mauck said. “The fans have been great all year long. They’ve showed support and it’s a classy move by him to give them the thanks for all the effort that they put behind us.”
LSU linebacker Eric Alexander was also thankful for a gift he received from the Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones – a fumble that Alexander returned for a 25-yard touchdown. The score gave LSU a 10-7 lead in the first quarter and the Tigers never trailed again.
“I [saw] a little mix-up in the backfield,” Alexander said. “I just was running to the ball. That’s basically all I was doing and it was just laying on the ground.”