Nick Saban takes another dig at Vanderbilt fanbase despite Alabama's embarrassing loss

The Alabama Crimson Tide suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of the Vanderbilt Commodores last week.

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban had commented on Vanderbilt weeks before this game, and his comments re-emerged after the defeat.

At the time, Saban had said the following about the Commodores:

"The only place you play in the SEC that's not hard to play. When you play at Vanderbilt, you have more fans there than they have, and that’s no disrespect to them, it’s the truth.”

Saban was further pressed on this quote on Friday's "The Pat McAfee Show. "

During the conversation between Saban and the former Indianapolis Colts punter, McAfee told Saban his view on what the latter said:

“It was a passing comment, obviously, and I think it’s been relatively true for a very long time,” McAfee said.

“But as soon as they get that win this past weekend over Bama, they run that clip in the stadium immediately afterwards, and the place goes crazy."

Saban responded to McAfee:

“But if you looked at the stadium, half the people were Alabama fans.”

This comment appears to double down Saban's initial statement about Vanderbilt fans.

However, there is some truth to this statement. The Alabama fans did outnumber the Vanderbilt fans, with USA Today estimating that 75% of the crowd were Alabama fans. But this is nothing new.

Vanderbilt is not known for having a large fan base and struggles to be heard in Nashville, where it is based.

This is not the first time it has happened this season. In week one, Virginia Tech fans outnumbered the Commodores when they met. This was another game that Vanderbilt won.

Vanderbilt coach wants to bring more fans in

The Commodores' leadership struggles to create an effective atmosphere and bring fans to the stadium. With the victory over Alabama, Vanderbilt now has a competitive team.

Coach Clark Lea shared his thoughts on how he can make this team strong and compete with the Southeastern Conference's best:

“What we need to do is fill the stadium with black and gold shirts. And when we do that, it will be a hard place to play. It may not be the biggest, but it is on top of you, and it can get loud. I think this is a glimpse as to what Saturday night in Nashville can be.”

Lea also thinks the Alabama win will be the catalyst for drawing fans in:

“A night like tonight hopefully moves the needle for some. Hopefully, the next time we're at home, you get a sense of what this could be in terms of Vanderbilt's support for our program. I'm not bitter by that. We have to play a certain way for people to take interest.

The Commodores' next home is on Oct. 19 against Ball State followed by another home game against the Texas Longhorns.