The topic of scheduling still simmers around the SEC and especially with Nick Saban.

A longtime proponent of adding a ninth league game, Saban again relayed his thoughts on an interview Tuesday morning on ESPN. He sees the trends heading in the wrong direction.

"I think somebody needs to step up in college football and get ahead of dwindling attendance and people not coming to games -- too many games that people are not interested in," Saban said. "I think every player in the SEC should play every team in the SEC in their career and we don't do that since we expanded to 14 teams and we only play eight SEC games. I've been for that for a long time."

College football attendance dropped by an average of 1,409 fans per game or 3.23 percent -- the largest dip since 1983 according to CBS Sports.

RELATED: Alabama falls from No. 1 spot in attendance

Alabama regularly sells out the SEC games but not all of the non-conference meetings with smaller schools fill the 101,821-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Saban also calls for playing only Power-5 level schools.

"So, when people go to buy tickets and you have to pay premium for all of that, they are not seeing Division II schools," Saban said, "they're seeing, oh we're playing five SEC schools and Oklahoma this year at home. I think it's a good thing for college football. It's a good thing."

Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne in an interview with AL.com cited similar reasons for scheduling home-and-home series with Texas (2022-23) and Notre Dame (2028-29).

"I just think from a big-picture fan standpoint, playing a bunch of games nobody is interested in is not good for the game," Saban said. "And, you know, players, when you're playing SEC games, they're not interested in playing somebody that doesn't matter."

Alabama plays home games with Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette and The Citadel in 2018.

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.