Nick Saban not concerned about poll, just Alabama's season

— -- TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It's safe to say that Nick Saban isn't looking forward to the first release of the College Football Playoff Rankings this week.

Alabama is No. 1 in both the AP and Coaches polls and is a strong candidate to be in the top spot when the College Football Playoff Committee's rankings come out Tuesday night.

"I could care less about the poll," Saban said. "What significance does a poll have right now? All we're talking about right here is the challenge of our season, and where are we going to be in the poll if we don't play well in the next four games? So I'm focused on the next four games. I could care less about the poll. You won't see me waste any time watching TV or who is 1 and who is 2. It doesn't really matter. What really matters is how you play the rest of the season."

Alabama, which is undefeated, will face No. 19 LSU at home on Saturday.

"If our players think anything of [the poll], then that could be an issue," Saban said. "These are the things we try to categorize as poison that you really don't want your players to be focused on."

He grinned and added, "But I appreciate you asking so I could get that off my chest."

Saban, who has seen his team go wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the country this season, made headlines earlier this month when he likened the positive coverage of Alabama to that of "rat poison."

Georgia coach Kirby Smart, whose team is also undefeated and might even challenge Alabama for the top spot in the initial rankings, piggy-backed off those comments made by his former boss on Monday when he was asked about the playoff rankings.

"You talk about rat poison a lot and things like that," Smart told reporters in Athens. "We don't really have to address if you confront it from the beginnings. ... It has zero outcome on performance on Saturday."

Georgia has the week off after Saturday's 42-7 win over Florida.