Saban, Spurrier share friendship

In 12 seasons with Florida, Steve Spurrier dominated the Southeastern Conference with a wide-open passing game. His Fun-n-Gun was like nothing SEC defenses had ever dealt with before. As LSU’s coach from 2000-04, Nick Saban’s defenses locked down opponents with unrelenting pressure. Both left the SEC for the NFL, only to return having realized college football was more their speed. Now in their second SEC jobs, South Carolina’s Spurrier and Alabama’s Saban face each other for the third time in their brilliant careers when the second-ranked Crimson Tide (6-0, 3-0) takes on the No. 22 Gamecocks (5-1, 2-1) on Saturday night in Columbia, S.C. The first two meetings of two of the most astute minds in college football resulted in Spurrier-style blowouts, with Florida beating LSU 41-9 in 2000 and 44-15 in 2001. As different publicly as the two appear—Spurrier with his wisecracking bite compared with Saban’s stoic, plainspoken edge—they share a friendship and respect. So much so that Spurrier once hitched a ride with Saban on the LSU plane after coaching together in the East-West Shrine Game nine years ago. “How about that?” Spurrier said with a chuckle this week. Saban joked that LSU fans about “blew up the Gator plane up in Baton Rouge when it was waiting there to pick (Spurrier) up and take him home,” Saban said. “I’ve known Steve for a long time,” Saban said. “I know his wife (Jerri) as well and so does Terry and we have a good relationship with them.”