After appearing in a breakout role in one of the breakout movies of the year, Nick Saban (who starred as LSU coach Nick Saban in The Blind Side) has taken his hobby as a sometimes football coach to the next level by coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide to a BCS championship victory over the University of Texas Longhorns.

How he finds time to be an A-list actor and a college football coach is a testament to the man’s tenacity.

Texas lost quarterback Colt McCoy early on in the game which shifted the momentum and tone of the game considerably, allowing Alabama to move ahead by 18 points at halftime. Although Texas was able to mount a comeback, Alabama shut them away by sacking replacement QB Garrett Gilbert and capitalizing on the possession change with a touchdown from Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram to put Alabama ahead 31-21.

This writer (and Austinite, and son of a Texas Ex) leaving his biases behind, has to congratulate the budding movie star on a great year. I have to assume we’ll see more of him in February.

If Sandra Bullock can get a nomination, why not Nick Saban? Of course, we’ll be keeping an eye on the veteran talent to see what kind of Award Season buzz he’ll be building, even if he faces stiff competition for a Best Supporting Actor award against The Road‘s Robert Duvall and Inglourious Basterds‘s Cristoph Waltz.

No word yet on which villain Saban will be playing in Spider-Man 4.

What do you think?