ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith warned Alabama Crimson Tide fans that the days of Nick Saban are long gone following the team’s crushing upset loss to Florida State on Saturday night.

Seminoles quarterback Thomas Castellanos ran for 78 yards and a touchdown and recorded 152 passing yards in the 31-17 win. Alabama’s 23-game season-opener winning streak was snapped.

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Smith offered his analysis amid their loss.

“I’m sorry folks. I really am. But it just seems to be as if the days of @AlabamaFTBL – Nick Saban’s @AlabamaFTBL — is looooonnngggg gone. Sacks surrendered. Dropped passes. A QB who’s not a real scrambler/runner, and doesn’t appear to have a strong enough arm to throw on the run,” he wrote on X. “Maybe this turnover by Lucas of @FloridaState, but I doubt it.”

Saban retired from college football before the start of the 2024 season. Alabama hired Kalen DeBoer from Washington to replace him.

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Smith said earlier this month that Alabama should consider hiring Deion Sanders to replace DeBoer and that he missed Saban.

Alabama, one of college football’s biggest powerhouses over the last decade or so, failed to make the College Football Playoff last year in its first season since Saban retired. In 2023, the team lost to the Michigan Wolverines in the Rose Bowl. Michigan went on to win the national championship.

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The Crimson Tide’s schedule is only going to get tougher. The team will take on Georgia next month and, later in the season, have Tennessee, South Carolina, LSU and Oklahoma in consecutive weeks.

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LONDON:

Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson has reportedly stayed in Germany in a bid to revive his aborted loan move to Bayern Munich after the deal was called off at the last minute.

Jackson flew to Munich on Saturday to seal his season-long switch to the Bundesliga champions, only to be told the move had to be aborted due to Chelsea’s injury problems.

Blues striker Liam Delap will be sidelined for up to eight weeks after suffering a hamstring problem in Saturday’s win over Fulham, while England forward Cole Palmer is also out due to a groin injury.

With Christopher Nkunku having joined AC Milan this week, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca would be left with Joao Pedro as his only fit senior striker if Jackson were allowed to leave.

Speaking after a 3-2 win at Augsburg on Saturday, Bayern sporting director Max Eberl confirmed that the deal was off.

“Chelsea informed us that they would like the player back after we agreed yesterday,” he said.

“The situation now is that the lad is here in Munich, but we are sending him back.”

But Jackson, 24, was angry with Chelsea’s late change of plans and is believed to have opted against leaving Germany on Sunday while his representatives work to resolve the stand-off.

Jackson’s agent Diomansy Kamara had insisted on social media that his player was not returning to Chelsea.

“We’re not going back. The plane doesn’t go backwards: Munich,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are reportedly exploring a move for Sporting Lisbon’s Conrad Harder before Monday’s transfer deadline, which could open the way for Jackson to join Bayern after all.

Chelsea are reported to prefer selling Jackson on a permanent basis rather than reviving a loan deal.

Earlier on Saturday, a deal had been agreed that would have seen the Senegal striker move for an initial £13 million (15 million euros) loan fee with an option for Bayern to make the deal permanent for £52 million.

Jackson, who has not played for Chelsea this season, had been told that he was not a part of Maresca’s plans following the signings of Delap from Ipswich and Joao Pedro from Brighton.

Jackson has endured a turbulent time at Chelsea since joining from Villarreal two years ago, with criticism of his erratic finishing marring his spell in west London.