The 2024 college football season will be unlike any other with conference realignment in full swing, the introduction of the 12-team Playoff, and the retirement of legendary former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.
Saban spent 17 years with the Crimson Tide and five years with the LSU Tigers racking up a staggering seven national championships, 11 SEC titles, and five SEC Coach of the Year awards. During the ten years of the four-team Playoff, Saban guided Alabama to seven appearances, so his retirement opens the door for several SEC programs.
However, Saban couldn’t stay away from the sport as he joined ESPN shortly after leaving Alabama as an analyst and will be a part of the College GameDay crew this fall. With SEC media days taking place this week, Saban has been in attendance, but as a member of the media sharing his two cents on the upcoming season.
ESPN’s Greg McElroy and Benjamin Watson alongside Saban shared their pre-season predictions for the SEC. Watson predicted that the Ole Miss Rebels and Georgia Bulldogs would meet in the SEC title, but McElroy and Saban predicted the Texas Longhorns would compete for an SEC title in their first year. McElroy projects that Texas will take on Alabama while Saban projects that Texas will square off against Georgia. Saban says of the Longhorns,
“I think Texas, if their defense comes through and they can replace some of the interior people they lost that were high draft picks and all that, they’re really good offensively. And even though their quarterback has missed time – Ewers has missed time the last couple years – Manning was lights-out in the spring game. Like, Arch was like, 21 for 25 for 347 yards.
That depth at quarterback is probably really important for them because Ewers has missed time the last couple years, a game or two, which could really affect where you end up. So I really like Texas. I think Georgia’s got a really good team, but I believe in our Alabama team, too – I believe in Jalen Milroe. I just think the question marks in the secondary, until those get resolved, it’s hard to sort of jump on that bandwagon.”
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