Nick Saban had started Monday night on ESPN's 'ManningCast' to share details on a family member's special game plans that Saban, unsolicited, had received week after week earlier in his coaching career.
Saban revealed that he had a great aunt, Katie, who sent him her game plans week after week.
But in 2001, she filed her suggestions to Saban before his LSU squad hosted rival Ole Miss in the 'Magnolia Bowl.'
“My great aunt used to send me a game plan all the time, every week for every game,” Saban said Wednesday on the Southeastern Conference's weekly coaches' teleconference. "She watched all our games on ESPN.
“We were getting ready to play Ole Miss, and she put in her game plan letter to me that we should go no huddle because they play what she called a radar defense because it's going to confuse your quarterback. So like always, I didn't pay any attention to it.”
The old radar defense, used in various iterations throughout the years, most often featured a tactic of having all 11 players standing prior to the snap.
In hindsight, Saban acknowledged that perhaps he should have lent a little more consideration to his aunt's insights.
“Even though Eli (Manning) played really well in the game, Rohan (Davey) had one of his worst games ever because of the confusion their defense caused,” said Saban, whose team fell 35-24 in a game in which Manning had three touchdown passes. “We should have gone no huddle, I have to say.
“I paid a little more attention to what she had to say.”