On a perfectly ordinary Thursday in May, a time when college football normally slumbers, a heavyweight fight broke out between two of the sport's most highly regarded coaches at two of the sport's most hyped programs. 

In another life, one that existed before student-athletes could legally capitalize on their star power through name, image and likeness legislation—and certainly long before programs could harness this newfound freedom to construct elite recruiting classes—Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher were co-workers. 

They were friendly—at least friendly enough.

They won a national title together at LSU before going in different directions and becoming rivals at Alabama and Texas A&M in the SEC. But now?

"We're done," Fisher said at a pop-up press conference Thursday morning when asked about his relationship with Saban. 

The reason for Fisher's disgust—and those two words were just the beginning—could be traced back to Saban's comments at a speaking engagement in Birmingham the night prior.

"A&M bought every player on their team," Saban said. "[They] made a deal for name, image, likeness. We didn't buy one player, all right? But I don't know if we're gonna be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it. It's tough."

This is not the first time Saban has gone after NIL rules, or a lack thereof. It's also not the first time he's targeted Texas A&M, whether purposeful or not, as an example while begging for extra guidance.