Nick Saban spoke to the media on Sunday after the College Football Playoff committee announced that Alabama would match up against Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl. Click the play button above to watch the video.

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No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Notre Dame are taking different approaches when it comes to handling the holidays. The two teams are set to meet on Jan. 1 for the Rose Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff. This year’s Rose Bowl has been relocated from Pasadena, Calif. to Dallas due to COVID-19 complications.

With the matchup 12 days away, teams have far less time to prepare for the game than they would in normal years. For Alabama, that time will be further limited as head coach Nick Saban revealed Sunday that he will be giving his team three days off to return home to their families for Christmas.

Saban said he plans to treat the preparation the same way he would a typical open week during the season. Alabama’s open date this season fell during the first week of November.

“We let our players go home when we had a bye week,” Saban said. “We tried to educate the families and those who had not tested positive on the safety issues and everything they needed to do to stay safe and healthy so we wouldn’t have an issue on our team. I don’t have the heart to tell the players that they can’t go home for Christmas, so we’re going to try to do the same thing in that regard.”

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly isn’t affording his players the same luxury, stating that the risk of his team contracting COVID-19 would be too great.

“It’s very difficult,” Kelly said of the decision. “Our roster, our players, we have as many from California as we do from any other state. The logistics would be virtually impossible for us because of our roster and where everybody’s from. If they were within a few hours where they could drive, we certainly could make this work, but virtually all of them or at least a great percentage of them would have to get on planes.”

During the open week earlier this season, Alabama maintained strict safety protocols, meeting with every player who was leaving to reinforce social distancing and other precautions. Players were also provided a packet of sanitary items to help with their prevention of contracting the virus.

Sunday, Saban said his team would practice a day or two before taking a three-day break for Christmas. That will be followed by a normal game week once players return.

Along with addressing his holiday plans, Saban also expressed pride in his players, praising them for their ability to handle the many obstacles set before them this season.

“This team has done a phenomenal job all year long of handling disruptions, overcoming adversity, being resilient,” Saban said. “Various things that have happened, whether it’s been me missing a game, other coaches missing games, players missing games. They really stayed focused. We told them early on that the team that handles the disruptions the best is the team that’s going to have the best chance to be successful in the end. I think our players certainly did that. I’m really proud of this team.”