Who knew that this Nick Saban era of dominance in the Southeastern Conference and all of college football was built on lucky pennies from his daughter?
This past Friday, which was the eve of the Crimson Tide's 38-19 opening win at Missouri, Kristen Saban Setas posted a picture on Instagram of a letter than contained a penny and the message, "Good luck tomorrow! I'm sorry I can't be there but will be cheering hard from home. We love you! Roll Tide!"
The 68-year-old Saban quickly lit up during Monday's weekly Zoom call when asked about the tradition.
"It means a lot," Saban said. "I hate to admit that I'm superstitious, but it's worked pretty well in the past, and hopefully it will continue to work. I don't think people understand what Kristen goes through sometimes to get that penny to me, especially this week.
"We've got a new grand baby that she has to take care of, and she had to go through a lot to get that penny to me. I appreciate it."
Saban didn't detail when the tradition began, but Alabama is 151-17 since the start of the 2008 season with six league championships and five national titles.
The Crimson Tide won their 28th consecutive game against an SEC East foe with their triumph at Mizzou. Alabama hosts Texas A&M this Saturday afternoon (3:30 on CBS) looking to prevail for an eighth straight time against the Aggies.
Alabama built a 35-3 lead early in the third quarter against the Tigers, with Najee Harris collecting three touchdown runs. Harris rushed 17 times for 98 yards, but the Crimson Tide's 19 other carries yielded just 13 yards.
"Those guys have a good front seven," Saban said. "They're really physical, and they play hard. They play an eight-man front almost all the time, so they're not easy to run against.
"I thought our running game was solid in the first half but not as good as it needs to be in the second half."
Missouri plays at Tennessee this week.
Tide tidbits
Junior receiver Jaylen Waddle had a career-best eight receptions at Mizzou for 134 yards. Saban on redshirt junior quarterback Mac Jones: "I think he maybe made only one bad read in the game."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.