Nick Saban rants about basement-dwellers, ‘Negative bull----’ in defense of Ohio State’s Ryan Day

The Buckeyes are the No. 8 seed in the CFP, and will face the Volunteers in Columbus Saturday. Still, the playoff bid and chance to go win a national championship are not enough for some Ohio State fans, furious at Day’s four straight losses to Michigan.

The internet chatter allowed Saban to go on a rant, one familiar to Alabama fans.

“A big part of that was insulating the players from external factors,” Saban said. “Criticism, internet. You know, I used to tell the players all the time, ‘Why do you care what some guy puts on the internet, who’s a fat guy in his underwear, living in his mother’s basement? Why do you care? Why does that mean anything to you? Why does that affect you in any way, shape or form?’

“We should be focused on what we can control and what we can do. And it’s the same thing for the fans. I would tell the fans the same thing. If Ohio State wants to beat Michigan, they need to be positive about their coach and the players. There’s nobody wants to beat ‘em worse than the players and the coaches. That’s No. 1. No. 2: They have an opportunity to win the national championship. Everybody ought to be supporting the hell out of them so that they have the best opportunity to do it, and quit all this negative bulls---.”

Ohio State and Tennessee are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. CT Saturday in Columbus. The game will be aired on ABC.