Nick Saban didn’t have a chance to watch the Alabama football vs. Vanderbilt game live.

It ended about the time he got home.

“I watched it on tape,” Saban said Friday. “That was really hard.”

Saban joined “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday for an appearance from Eugene, Oregon, and talked a variety of subjects. McAfee brought up the Vanderbilt game and discussed everything from third downs to the goal post traveling through Nashville.

McAfee said he thought the goal posts going about town was “awesome.”

“I think it is awesome,” Saban said. “I think it’s good for the SEC if Vanderbilt is good and has hope and has a chance. And I think they do. The quarterback, their offense, they’ve done a really good job this year … I mean, they beat Virginia Tech. That’s a significant accomplishment as well.”

The only real element of the game Saban discussed: Third-down defense.

“Vandy was 12 for 18 on third downs,” Saban said. “I mean, there’s no way. That’s why they had the ball for (75) plays in the game or whatever. You’ve got to get off the field on third down. The good news is, you created 18 third downs, so something got done right before that.”

Saban also talked big picture for any teams that suffered upsets.

“I think what you see is a lot of peaks and valleys in college football right now,” Saban said. “A lot of teams that have big wins have significant let downs the next week. I always talk about complacency, but if you put a little complacency with a little arrogance because you have a big win, wherever it was, and you don’t focus on the right things the next week, you really don’t get the kind of results you’d like to have. When you’re not focused on the right stuff, your execution goes to pot in a hurry.”

Next, No. 7 Alabama faces South Carolina on Saturday (11 a.m., ABC) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.