It's Saturday and Nick Saban's on the sideline. He's pacing. And that concerned look rarely fades.

All the while, it looks like he's talking to nobody in particular. Lips are moving, but the television audience can't hear or see who's absorbing his wrath.

For most college football programs, headset communication is an integral part of the game-day machine.

To the casual fan, the nature of those discussions is a mystery -- like most buried portions of a college football program, just an accepted part of the game that blends into the background.

Some Alabama assistants have pulled back the curtain on the key dialogue, which can be the difference between victory and defeat. They explained what's being said on the connection between those on the sidelines and the eyes in the coaches box.

This is a highly organized, regulated and rehearsed dance orchestrated by Saban. Everybody from the booth to the field has an assignment and they better not speak out of line.

"I really get mad -- cussin' mad when guys aren't supposed to be talking, are talking on the headset," Saban said on October edition of his weekly radio show. "It wastes time."

It's that efficiency and organization that assistants who've worked elsewhere said separates this operation from the others.

Offensive line coach Mario Cristobal, a head coach at Florida International for six years, called the headset decorum "military-ish." Alabama practices the rhythm and structure during spring practice and preseason camp.

"It's way different from anything I've ever experienced," Cristobal said. "You grow a lot as a coach. You can't imagine the detail we get into."

The ultimate goal is solving problems as they arise while implementing the game plan in an increasingly fast-paced game. So far, it's worked well enough to help second-ranked Alabama reach Monday's College Football Playoff Championship with top-ranked Clemson.

***

From his seat in a crowded coaches box, Billy Napier's got his eyes on a few things. The wide receivers coach tracks the down, distance and field position when Alabama's on offense. He relays that to offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin who's calling the plays from the sideline.

"Within the series, it's pretty hush-hush when we have the ball because time is critical," Napier said. "He has his thought process when you just give him the information he needs and goes."

The offensive chatter picks up when the Crimson Tide defense takes over.

Since there are multiple channels within the headset network, offensive and defensive coaches can speak without interrupting the others. No NCAA rule governs the number of channels or headsets allowed per team. SEC director of officials Steve Shaw said the league restricts non-coaches like analysts charting plays to four headphones without microphones.

After the possession, the booth coaches can share those key observations often missed from ground level. They see all, and with a booth packed with assistants, graduate assistants and analysts, everything is covered.

Napier smiles talking about one particular opportunity spotted by the booth crew. Alabama trailed Arkansas 7-3 in the late stages of the third quarter on Oct. 10. Not much was working offensively as tension steadily rose in Bryant-Denny Stadium. High above the field, coaches saw the Razorback defensive backs focusing on Derrick Henry and the running game, long before he won the Heisman Trophy. That was allowing Tide slot receivers to continuously get off the line clean with all eyes zeroed in on the backfield.

Alabama dusted off the old double-move deep ball to true freshman receiver Calvin Ridley. A silent celebration started in the coaches box when Alabama lined up and saw Arkansas about to step in the trap. The defensive back across from the freshman receiver was staring at the backfield at the snap, allowing a clean release. Razorbacks safety Santos Ramirez never had a chance. Ridley ran untouched for an 81-yard touchdown catch-and-run that flipped momentum in a 27-14 Alabama victory. The score remains the longest offensive play of the Tide's season.

"We sometimes know as they line up, we say 'We got what we want,'" Napier said. "Lane is big on the forecast of a touchdown. A lot of times we know, according to how they line up, we got the look that we want and hopefully we execute well."

***

Observations and adjustments like the Arkansas example come from the exhausting game-week preparation regimen. Practically every scenario and wrinkle has been considered in the days before kickoff, several coaches said.

Little is left to chance, so in-game modifications are made smoothly.

"We have a fairly good idea of what the opponent is trying to do," said running backs coach Burton Burns. "We have a good idea of what we want to do, so we're talking about those things. Is that the same? Is something changing? If it is changing, what do we have to do? It's a lot of that type of communication."

Like Napier, Burns is in the coaches box during games. His job is to study opposing linebackers and defensive linemen for anything they didn't see on film.

"Most of it is because of preparation, some things that you already know and take advantage of," Burns said. "As a group we all do it together. Between series, you make the adjustments."

For the most part, the offensive coaches are watching the opposing defenses and vice versa.

Everybody already knows the plan Alabama's implementing, and much of the headset chatter comes down to communicating differences in the other team's tendencies.

"You're not watching the game," Cristobal said. "You're assessing. You're calling and making adjustments and it requires a tremendous amount of eye discipline."

Every play is being charted with meticulous detail in the booth. At halftime, Saban said the coaches run through every snap in search of corrections or patterns.

"Everybody is accountable to be able to give a full and detailed assessment of each and every play," Cristobal said. "And you better be ready to answer that. Don't let a play go wrong and not have an answer for it. It starts at the top with Coach Saban. He holds us accountable. We hold each other accountable."

***

Saban's headset has a three-way switch. He can hear the channels assigned to the offense, defense and special teams.

On offense, Kiffin calls the plays with help from above. Saban's involved, so the extra chatter isn't welcome.

"We don't need a commentator telling us what happened on the last play," Saban said. "We need to be focusing on the next play. There's a lot of coaches that like to talk about what happened on the last play like fans. 'Oh, he dropped the ball. He was wide open and dropped the ball.' We don't need that. I don't need any commentary. We're trying to focus on the next play."

And when somebody steps out of line, well Saban is Saban. He'll correct anyone at any time.

That's always been the case. Harlon Barnett, Michigan State's co-defensive coordinator, who played for Saban with the Spartans and was a graduate assistant for him at LSU in 2003. He remembers how intense Saban was on game days and on the headsets. Same rules applied.

"I think everybody kind of understood that from the start, otherwise the call can't be made and it's frazzled and everybody is all messed up, players are frazzled," Barnett said. "So you have to get the call made so everybody has to be quiet. From there, the communication can go forth."

When issues arise, coaches said they tend to look for solutions first and assign blame later.

Outside linebackers coach Tosh Lupoi will ask the booth about issues with fitting gaps or changes in the other team's pass protections.

"When something breaks down, you usually know what happens," Lupoi said. "You're already just trying to fix it or improve it. I don't think there's a lot of debate."

***

There's a simplicity within the complexity of this dance. Burns said the basic tenor of the headset communication isn't too different from fans sitting in the stadium or watching on TV.

Everyone's just trying to crack the opponent's code.

After a possession, the coaches will huddle on the field with input from the box. From there, they take the information, observations and corrections to the different positional groups organized on the sideline.

For one more game, defensive coordinator Kirby Smart is the main voice on the defensive channel. Saban flips the switch over to that frequency at that time too, but it's been Georgia's new head coach who's the one signaling things to the field.

Defense is a little different since offenses dictate so much on a given play. Offensive formations must be quickly identified in the booth and called down so coaches can get the right personnel groups on the field and a play called. As many as eight or nine players can come on and off the field before a given play based on what the offense is doing.

"When the defense is out there," Saban said, "I'm on the defensive headset getting the call, knowing the situation, the personnel, know what everybody's supposed to be doing out there and nobody's talking except the guy in the press box. The first thing he says is what is the personnel and call out the personnel so we can match personnel, whether we're playing regular, nickel, dime, dollar or whatever we're going to play. After that, there's nothing else said."

The increased pace of the game only complicates this aspect of the communication. How can you tell something went wrong in that chain?

"You usually see somebody running for a touchdown," said defensive line coach Bo Davis.

So it's pretty much a high-stakes poker game with the whole country watching.

On Monday night, two opposing coaches' boxes will look to outsmart the other for the ultimate prize in college football. With two evenly-matched teams on the field, the smallest detail relayed by grownups with fancy walkie-talkies could be the difference.

"It's a big chess match," Napier said with a smile. "Each and every week is different."