ATLANTA -- Nick Saban gathered his coaches for one final staff meeting before Alabama traveled to Atlanta for the SEC championship game against Florida on Saturday.His message: Ignore the distractions.There were rumors swirling that offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin was a candidate for the same position at LSU and that Houston wanted to interview him as a candidate for head coach. Backup quarterback Cooper Bateman had just been granted his release, and starting cornerback Marlon Humphrey wasnt going to be available because of an injured ankle. And all the while, a narrative was building outside the Mal Moore Athletic Facility that Alabama could afford a loss and still make the playoff.It drove Saban mad. He scolded the media early in the week, telling them in no uncertain terms that it was never OK to lose a game.According to Kiffin, Saban advised his coaches to keep the focus on the players and all the work theyd put in during the season. Kiffin recalled Saban saying, What a shame it would be to let Florida take that away, to let them be champs.Because thats all anybody would have talked about, Kiffin said. Nobody would have talked about the first 12 games.Real or imagined, this was the threat Alabama felt heading into the weekend. Winning was about respect. Remaining unbeaten meant no one could deny its No. 1 ranking.The talk about losing being OK was all a setup, an annoyed Ryan Anderson explained.We dont listen to that s---, man, the senior linebacker said.Instead, Alabamas 54-16 win over Florida did all the talking. The defense forced three interceptions, including a pick-six, and allowed a net of zero yards rushing on 30 attempts. Special teams blocked a punt and returned the deflection for a touchdown, and the Tides trio of Bo Scarbrough, Damien Harris and Josh Jacobs combined for 214 yards and three touchdowns rushing.From the outside, the outcome was predictable. Alabama did what it had all season in dominating every phase of the game. Come Sunday there would be no debate that Sabans squad would be No. 1 in the playoff rankings.But inside the locker room of the Georgia Dome, the mood was a mix of relief and defiance. Going wire to wire as college footballs No. 1 team wasnt something to celebrate. Instead, it represented a target on everyones back.Sophomore defensive lineman DaRon Payne said that this season was the same old song and dance with everyone waiting on Alabama to fail.Thats always it, he said. They never like to see us on top.The Birmingham native added: Everybody is tired of seeing Bama win.Tim Williams calls Saban the fearless general.There are two types of coaches, Alabamas veteran outside linebacker explained. That players coach and that fearless general. And thats who he is.He just gives us the power to overcome fear.But its not just that. In going 13-0, Alabama has also overcome complacency. Sabans mind games, pushing mottos like Be where your feet are rather than looking ahead, have worked.Remember, this team wasnt always a sure thing. It lost its Heisman Trophy running back, 3,000-yard passer and first-round center from the year before. It saw the heart of its front seven vanish when middle linebacker Reggie Ragland and defensive linemen AShawn Robinson and Jarran Reed turned pro.Alabama didnt have the returning team of Clemson on paper, yet it was the consensus preseason No. 1 all the same.We knew we had a target on our backs at the start of the season, really the entire time, cornerback Tony Brown?said. So we knew we had to elevate our game because everyone would play us harder, and thats what we did every week, in the summer and all of that.If there was ever a season to slip up and let the pressure get to them, this was it.Before the season, there were issues off the field with a handful of player arrests, including that of star left tackle Cam Robinson. Alabama didnt make it out of September before Week 1 starting quarterback Blake Barnett left the program. Then, in late October, star safety and team leader Eddie Jackson was lost for the season with a broken leg.Through it all, Alabama didnt flinch.It didnt matter that true freshman?Jalen Hurts had to learn on the job at quarterback or that the secondary had to rearrange itself with Minkah Fitzpatrick changing positions. Instead of a typical Alabama workhorse, the running game became a rotating cast of underclassmen. When Hurts and the offense struggled, the defense and special teams picked up the slack, scoring a ridiculous 13 non-offensive touchdowns.There were close calls at Ole Miss and LSU, but for the most part Alabama dominated. In eight ranked matchups, the Tide won by an average score of 41-16, and the defense didnt give up a touchdown during the month of November.Rather than rest comfortably as No. 1, Saban drilled home the idea that the playoff didnt start on Dec. 31. Rather, he preached, it was every game Alabama played.These guys have been challenged all year long, playoff game after playoff game, Saban said.According to Williams, the only team that could test Alabama was Alabama.Just dont beat ourselves, man, he said. Just trust in the system and the process. ... We just know that Alabama is built on that: grind, grind, grind. Fight, fight, fight on every play, no matter the circumstance.Theres a reason some racehorses wear blinders.Theres no room for distractions. Theres only the next step, nothing but what lies ahead.Its that way at Alabama.Ryan Anderson said there were times this season when he didnt even know whom the Tide were playing that week, that Saban had trained us to live in the moment.Asked what he thought of going undefeated, Anderson went blank.It was the same story when he was asked what going wire to wire as the No. 1-ranked team meant.We dominated the season we just finished, he said. We have a whole nother season now. Well celebrate tonight. But it is what it is.We didnt come this far just to participate.On Sunday morning, there was no watch party at the Mal Moore Athletic Facility. There was no spontaneous celebration. Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt walked in at 6:15 a.m. to get to work. Players came in around 2 p.m., well after the semifinal pairings were announced.The next nameless, faceless opponent for Alabama to dominate: No. 4 Washington on Dec. 31 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta.Huskies coach Chris Peterson said he didnt even have to turn on film to see what Sabans team was about.It wasnt his idea to hold up a We want Bama sign in the background of ESPNs College GameDay set earlier in the season.Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for, Peterson said.With a month to prepare, it will be interesting to see what Peterson and his coaches come up with to try to stop the Tide.The SEC proved no match for Sabans squad. USC, which proved to be a Rose Bowl-caliber team, had its doors blown off by Alabama in the season opener, setting the tone for the rest of the season.If youre looking for a game plan to knock off the No. 1 team in college football, good luck.Williams advice?Bring your heart, man, he said. Because everyone on our team has heart. Like Coach Saban says, we have some hateful players, some competitors.He added: We know everybody wants to beat us. Were the No. 1 team, undefeated, have all these accolades going for us. So were going to get every teams best. Adidas Yeezy Italia . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. Adidas Yeezy Boost Italia . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. http://ww... . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. [url=http://www.yeezyboostitalia.it/puma-rihanna-fenty-nere/puma-rihanna-nere-e-... Rihanna Nere e Oro . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. Puma Rihanna Fenty Velvet .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. BOSTON -- With the potential tying run on third base, Mookie Betts wanted to get the ball in the air. It didnt matter given the good bounces the Boston Red Sox were getting.Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs, Betts had the tying single before scoring the go-ahead run and the Red Sox beat the Yankees 6-5 Saturday for their third straight win over New York.Trailing 5-4 in the seventh, the Red Sox took the lead with two well-placed bounces.Betts high-chop grounder bounced over drawn-in shortstop Didi Gregorius to score Bogaerts, and Betts scored when Adam Warren (3-2) bounced a wild pitch that caromed to the right of Sanchez.Hanley Ramirez, who started on second, went to third, stopped, then tried to score when he saw Sanchez had his back to the plate. The catcher scampered back in time for the tag.Fortunately it was able to bounce over his head, Betts said. Anytime I get a situation like that, you want to get the run in. Ideally, you want to get it in the air, but I just got on top of it.Ramirez and Bogaerts each had three hits for the AL East-leading Red Sox (84-64), who improved to three games ahead of Toronto and Baltimore.This is a day where we kept fighting back and we had to, Boston manager John Farrell said.New York (77-70) wasted 3-0 and 5-2 leads and lost for the sixth time in seven games. The Yankees, already four games back for the ALs second wild card coming in, dropped seven games behind the Red Sox in the AL East.The Yankees lost the opener 7-5 when Boston scored five runs in the ninth, capped by Ramirezs three-run homer.Its been tough and just frustrating because I felt like we were on a good roll there and just kind of havent been able to finish a game and come out on top the last couple, Warren said.Second baseman Starlin Castro left in the fifth inning after straining his right hamstring while rounding first base on a double. Rookie Gary Sanchez hit his 15th home run since his Aug. 3 recall from the minors, a two-run ddrive.ddddddddddddNew York opened a 5-2 lead on Austin Romines two-run double off the Green Monster in the fourth. Chase Headley, the second baserunner on the play, read the flight of the ball well and was just a few feet behind Gregorius when the pair crossed home plate.Bogaerts homered off a billboard above the left-field wall in the fifth, slicing the deficit to 5-4.Matt Barnes (4-3) pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief of David Price, and Craig Kimbrel struck out the final four batters for his 27th save in 29 chances.Weve lost some really tough games, New York manager Joe Girardi said.New York took a 3-0 in the third on Brett Gardners RBI triple and Sanchezs homer, which cleared the Monster seats above the left-field wall.TRAINERS ROOMYankees: CF Jacoby Ellsbury slid hard into the side of the bullpen, trying to make a catch and stayed in for an inning before leaving the game with what the team called a right knee injury. Girardi said Ellsbury and Castro are going back to New York for MRIs.He hurt his right patellar when he slid into the wall, Girardi said of Ellsbury.Red Sox: Farrell said before the game that 40-year-old DH David Ortiz may get Sundays finale off after running a lot the last couple of days.PRICE NOT RIGHTPrice gave up five runs and nine hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. He had allowed two runs or fewer in his previous six starts with a 1.93 ERA.It was a very big win. These guys had my back, he said. We find a way to win. It was a very big win for us.UP NEXTLHP CC Sabathia (8-12, 4.10 ERA) is to start Sunday nights series finale for the Yankees. He has allowed three or fewer runs in six of his last seven starts. LHP Drew Pomeranz (2-5, 4.60) starts for Boston after allowing five runs over two innings Tuesday in a loss to Baltimore, his shortest start since he was acquired from San Diego in July. 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