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Saban faults fuel pump for boat breakdown

Christopher Hanewinckel / USA TODAY Sports

It appears Alabama head coach Nick Saban can be beaten after all.

After spending an afternoon on the lake with some of his players, his boat seemed to break down, stranding them on the water.

It was originally speculated that the boat ran out of gas, but Saban said the fuel pump was to blame instead.

"We didn't run out of gas," he told ESPN's Chris Low. "But when the fuel pump runs out, that's exactly what it feels like."

"Brand spanking new, and it's the first time I'd been out in it. So when it stalled, I'm thinking, 'Oh my gosh. I bought a new boat, and they didn't put gas in it.' I didn't even think about it. You just assume that it's got gas in it when you get a new car or a new boat. My heart sunk for a minute because I had all those kids out there. I had two of them on tubes when it happened. We had fun, but I sure heard about it."

Saban said he's received a number of responses via social media since the incident, with his favorite coming from a student at the United States Naval Academy, who sent a picture of a warship and offered to pick the team up.

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