TUSCALOOSA - There was more talk about white tape and orange jerseys Wednesday in Alabama coach Nick Saban's post-practice news conference than there was talk about football.

Saban addressed allegations by South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier that Alabama broke rules last week by using a small piece of white tape to spot place-kicks.

Then he addressed Tennessee's request to wear their home orange jerseys in a 2:30 p.m. game Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama athletics director Mal Moore did not grant that request, so Tennessee will wear its white road jerseys.

On the tape issue, Saban said, "It's a 5-yard penalty. Would we be having this discussion about somebody lining up offsides?"

He then launched into a tirade that eventually dripped with sarcasm.

"First of all, I didn't know anything about it," Saban said. "But since it happened, we did research, and over half the guys in the league this year use something to show the kicker where they're going to spot the ball. It could be a piece of grass. It could be a piece of mud. It could be anything.

"And we researched last year, and South Carolina's very good kicker used it. So, I wasn't aware of it. I'm not upset with anybody. I'm glad somebody made us aware of it, because I would sure not want to get a 5-yard penalty for such a critical offense.

"And I don't want to get caught up in anything like Watergate, because it really wasn't about the crime, it was about the cover-up. We're not trying to cover this up. I certainly don't want to get in trouble with anybody doing that, because this is really an important thing. Really important thing.

"But I'm glad that somebody thought it was important enough so we could get it corrected."

Saban earlier was asked if he was consulted about Tennessee's request to wear orange jerseys. In his long-winded answer, he said he was asked about it, and he told Moore it didn't matter.

"I have never, anywhere I've been, had anything to do with uniforms," Saban said. "I think the tradition of the school, the tradition of the expectation of all the people who see Alabama come out in whatever they come out in, or LSU come out in whatever they come out in, everybody always comes to me. You want to change the helmet? You want to change the jersey? You want to change the uniform? You want to change this? You want to change that?

"It's not my decision. I don't want anything to do with all that. It's bigger than me, it's bigger than the coach. So when somebody else asks to do something like that here, I don't have any feel for it nor do I even want to be involved in it.

"Coach Moore asked me about it. I said, 'Look, Mal, it's your call. It doesn't bother me. As long as we wear our traditional thing, I'm not worried about the other team and what they wear.

"I know some guys go some places and they have gold jerseys and some teams have always worn white or whatever. They change this and that and all that. ... I'm not into that. Maybe I ought to be, but I'm not.

"Terry picks out my clothes," he said of his wife. "I don't go shopping. I don't like to shop. I don't buy anything for myself. Maybe that's part of it."