[Tuck4Bama]

Tide players, Saban will try to beat team and coach they idolized

TUSCALOOSA - If you grew up in the 1990s, if you followed college football, you were a Florida State fan on some level.

So when Alabama's players see that Seminole garnet and gold Saturday, it'll be a flashback of sorts to their childhood days.

Of the six players who met with reporters Monday, all either called themselves FSU fans while growing up or marveled over Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden.

"I grew up a Florida State fan," senior defensive end Wallace Gilberry said. "To have the opportunity to play against these guys is an honor.

"But you never let that get in the way of the task at hand. Never."

Said linebacker Darren Mustin, "I was a Florida State fan when I was little. When I was little, I always ran around the house doing the tomahawk chop."

Alabama coach Nick Saban isn't a Florida State fan. But he is a Bobby Bowden fan.

"I have as much respect for this guy as anybody in the profession," Saban said, "relative to what he's accomplished, the kind of person he is in accomplishing it, how he has affected our profession in a positive way, what he's personally done for me through the years."

Indeed, Saban knew about Bowden before he became a coaching star at Florida State. Before reviving the Seminole program, Bowden coached at West Virginia, not far from where Saban grew up outside Fairmont, W.Va.

No mistakin' mystique- al.com

[Stoney]

Bobby may be looking at his last year as a head coach. He has struggled as of late and even had a regieme change. That still hasn't cure the ills of FSU. Even Bear Bryant knew when to step aside, funny he had handpicked Spurrier to take the job but that never happened.