College football legend Nick Saban praised Florida’s decision to retain Billy Napier into the 2025 season on ESPN’s College Gameday.
Perhaps the greatest college football head coach of all time — and certainly this generation — Nick Saban praised [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] for his coaching job at Florida this season on ESPN’s College Gameday Saturday.
The Gators have yet to put together a winning season under Napier, but Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin has committed to sticking with the head coach into the 2025 season. The decision to bring Napier back for a fourth year has drawn much criticism from a fan base eager to return to the top of the Southeastern Conference, but Saban says it’s the right choice for the Orange and Blue.
“Here’s the thing that I really appreciate: that somebody out there for this administration recognized the fact that Billy Napier has done a heck of a job of coaching this team,” Saban said. “They’ve had a lot of adversity, a lot of injuries, a lot to overcome, but yet every game, they start out and they play great in the first half, which tells me they’ve done a great job preparing their team with the players they have.”
One of the biggest reasons Napier still has support is the connection he has with star true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. The former five-star recruit has impressed throughout the season and taken over for senior Graham Mertz, who’s done for the year following an ACL tear.
Lagway is now dealing with his own injury, a Grade 2 hamstring strain suffered in the first half against Georgia. Florida started third-string walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner against Texas on Saturday.
“The quarterback situation is going to be tough to overcome,” said Saban, “but I think (Napier) has built a good nucleus, and most importantly, culture, a culture that can win. If I was a recruit, I would recognize that and say this is a place I’m going to consider.”
Lagway practiced throughout the week and could return as soon as next week against LSU.
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The former Alabama coach makes his pick for the toughest environment in college football.
It is no secret that the environment the Alabama Crimson Tide will play in Saturday night in Baton Rouge is one of the greatest the sport has to offer.
That thought has been echoed by numerous across college football, with the latest in that group being former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who said Saturday morning during ESPN’s “College GameDay” that Tiger Stadium is the toughest place to play in the country.
“I think this is the hardest place to play in college football, because of the LSU fans,” Saban said. “The passion that the people have here is fantastic, and I think it’s great for college football.”
Saban, who was the head coach of the Crimson Tide from 2007-23, certainly knows a thing about coaching in Tiger Stadium, both on the home and away side as the leader of both programs.
The head coach at LSU from 2000-04, Saban had success in Tiger Stadium at Alabama however, owning a combined 6-2 record in Baton Rouge during his time in Tuscaloosa. This also included a five-game winning streak in Tiger Stadium in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020.
Alabama also lost their most recent trip to Baton Rouge back in 2022, and will look to get back on their winning ways in one of college football’s top environments Saturday night.
"I think this is the hardest place to play in college football because of the LSU fans."
Nick Saban knows a thing or two about the energy of a night game in Death Valley ⚡ pic.twitter.com/3durFzGXd6
Nick Saban sounds off on the Florida Gators’ controversial decision to retain head coach Billy Napier.
The University of Florida made a controversial decision this week when the school announced that head football coach Billy Napier would return for a fourth season in 2025 to lead the Gators.
Napier is in his third year in “The Swamp” and has compiled an overall record of 15-18 as Florida Gators coach. The Gators are 4-4 this year, but they’ve faced arguably the single toughest schedule for any Power Four team in all of college football.
On Saturday’s Week 11 edition of ESPN’s “College GameDay,” former Alabama football coach Nick Saban offered some words of support for his former assistant coach.
Speaking live from Baton Rouge where Saban and the “GameDay” crew are stationed for tonight’s massive Alabama vs. LSU showdown, Saban backed Florida’s decision to retain Napier:
“Here’s the thing that I really appreciate, that somebody out there in Florida’s administration recognized the fact that Billy Napier has done a heck of a job coaching this team. They’ve had a lot of adversity, a lot of injuries, a lot to overcome. But yet every game, they start out and they play great in the first half, which tells me that they’ve done a great job of preparing their team with the players that they have. The quarterback situation is going to be tough to overcome, but I think he’s built a good nucleus and most importantly… a culture that can win. And if I was a recruit, I would recognize that and say, ‘This is a place I’m going to consider.'”
Napier was a member of Saban’s staff at Alabama from 2013-16 when he was the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach. In December 2017, Napier became head coach at the University of Louisiana and would compile a 40-12 record in four seasons in Lafayette before accepting the Florida job.
Napier’s Gators are in Austin Saturday to face the No. 5 Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
How did Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin, Mario Cristobal, Curt Cignetti and other former Nick Saban assistant coaches do at their respective Power Four and G5 programs in Week 10? We take a look.
Several members of former Alabama football coach Nick Saban’s expansive coaching tree had a busy Saturday in Week 10 of the 2024 college football season this past weekend.
From as far south as Miami to as far north as Bloomington, Ind., Saban’s former Crimson Tide assistants had their teams involved in high-stakes conference games on the first Saturday of November.
Not all of the former Saban assistants were on their respective sidelines in Week 10. Among the coaches whose teams had bye weeks was Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team is ranked No. 5 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll.
Mike Locksley and the Maryland Terrapins were also on a bye, as were Brent Key and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Bill O’Brien and the Boston College Eagles, and Butch Jones’ Arkansas State program.
Former Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain’s Central Michigan Chippewas didn’t play Saturday as CMU has three consecutive Tuesday night games coming up (MACtion!).
Lance Taylor’s first-place Western Michigan Broncos also didn’t play Saturday but will look to improve to 5-0 in MAC play Wednesday when they welcome Northern Illinois to Kalamazoo.
A week ago, Roll Tide Wire ranked every member of the Saban coaching tree by their schools’ season-to-date performances. This week, we’re taking a look at how each of those head coaches and their respective teams fared in Week 10 action.
Again, former Saban assistants whose teams were idle in Week 10 do not appear on this list. With that out of the way, here’s how every former Saban assistant and his team fared over the weekend.
Major Applewhite (South Alabama Jaguars)
Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
Overall/Current Record at South Alabama: 4-5
Week 10 Game: Georgia Southern 34, South Alabama 30
2024 Salary: $825,000
South Alabama had a fourth-quarter collapse against a Georgia Southern team they had on the ropes in Mobile. The Eagles got two touchdown passes from JC French to erase a 30-14 deficit heading into the fourth quarter. With both teams at 3-1 in Sun Belt play entering the game, this was a huge missed opportunity for Applewhite and the Jaguars.
Billy Napier (Florida Gators)
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
Overall Record at Florida: 14-18
2024 Record: 4-4
Week 10 Game: Georgia 34, Florida 20
2024 Salary: $7.3 million
It’s hard for me to be too upset about Napier and the Gators’ performance against a Georgia team that’s simply better than Florida. The Gators competed and didn’t allow themselves to be pushed around in a game many figured would be a blowout. If not for an injury to Florida starting quarterback DJ Lagway, we could be talking about this game in a whole new light.
Charles Huff (Marshall Thundering Herd)
Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
Overall Record at Marshall: 27-20
2024 Record: 5-3
Week 10 Game: Marshall 28, UL Monroe 23
2024 Salary: $755,500
Huff and the Herd won their fourth game in their last five contests, getting two fourth-quarter touchdowns to hold off ULM to improve to 3-1 in Sun Belt play. Marshall is a half-game behind Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt East division. At 5-3 and scheduled to face a Southern Miss team that’s one of the worst in FBS for the second straight year, Huff is well in position to lead the Herd to a fourth straight bowl game in as many seasons as Marshall’s coach.
Kirby Smart (Georgia Bulldogs)
Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union
Overall Record at Georgia: 101-17
2024 Record: 6-1
Week 10 Game: Georgia 34, Florida 20
2024 Salary: $13,282,580
If we’re going by season-to-date rankings, Smart still tops our list at No. 1. The Bulldogs struggled for much of the afternoon against Florida in Jacksonville as Carson Beck threw three more interceptions to continue an alarming trend. He now has eight interceptions over his last three games.
Georgia has won all three of those contests in spite of Beck’s turnovers. While Beck looked much in the second half, questions still linger about his turnover ratio — and how much longer Smart can seemingly pin the blame on his receivers.
Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss Rebels)
Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
Overall Record at Ole Miss: 40-17
2024 Record: 7-2
Week 10 Game: Ole Miss 63, Arkansas 31
2024 Salary: $9 million
During his appearance on “College GameDay” Saturday, Nick Saban predicted that Sam Pittman and the Arkansas Razorbacks would pull an upset over Ole Miss. “Not so fast, my friend.” Jaxson Dart threw for a school-record 515 yards, and his six touchdown passes in one game tied Eli Manning (in 2001) and Matt Corral (in 2020). Ole Miss had 694 yards of total offense in a complete domination of the Hogs.
Last week, we wrote that Kiffin hadn’t been able to win the big one yet in Year 5 with the Rebels. With the No. 2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs coming to Oxford this Saturday, Kiffin has a chance to change that and put Ole Miss squarely back into the College Football Playoff race.
Curt Cignetti (Indiana Hoosiers)
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Overall/Current Record at Indiana: 8-0
Week 10 Game: Indiana 47, Michigan State 10
2024 Salary: $4.25 million
A week after hosting “College GameDay” for the first time, Cignetti and quarterback Kurtis Rourke led the Hoosiers to their first 9-0 start in program history with another offensive explosion on Saturday in East Lansing. The Hoosiers are averaging 49.0 points per game this season, and their fewest points scored in any one game was the 31 they put up against the Washington Huskies in Week 9 and their season opener against FIU.
The Hoosiers host the four-loss Michigan Wolverines in Bloomington in Week 11. If they can beat the reigning national champions, they’ll face a “Game of the Year of the Week” in Columbus matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes with major Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff implications on the line at “The Shoe.”
Mario Cristobal (Miami Hurricanes)
Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Overall Record at Miami: 21-13
2024 Record: 9-0
Week 9 Game: Miami 53, Duke 31
2024 Salary: $7.7 million
Cristobal’s Hurricanes pulled away from former Miami coach Manny Diaz and the Duke Blue Devils with a 36-point second half explosion to erase a 21-17 halftime deficit. Miami recently passed Ole Miss for the national lead in average yards per game at 556.9. They’re also averaging 47.4 points per game with quarterback Cam Ward leading one of the nation’s most explosive offenses.
At 9-0, Miami is one of only five unbeaten teams in college football, joining Cignetti’s Hoosiers, the No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks, BYU Cougars, and Army Black Knights. With Clemson suffering a stunning 33-21 loss to the Louisville Cardinals over the weekend, the ACC is officially Miami’s to lose. Their schedule takes them to Georgia Tech and former Saban assistant Brent Key in Week 11.
Should Marcel Reed be the starter for the rest of the season?
Ahead of Texas A&M’s Week 10 road test against South Carolina on Saturday night, it’s become clear throughout the week that this game will come down to the play in the trenches, specifically the play of Texas A&M’s offensive line against the Gamecocks’ stout defensive line.
This should also be flipped, as the Aggies’ deep D-line should be able to generate a ton of pressure against South Carolina’s O-line, which has allowed nearly five sacks per game this season. However, Texas A&M’s impending quarterback decision between Conner Wegiman and Marcel Reed will drastically affect A&M’s offensive game plan.
On Saturday morning, during one of the many pre-game segments on ESPN’s College GameDay, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, alongside Kirk Herbstreit, broke down Texas A&M’s offense under Marcel Reed, head coach Mike Elko and OC Collin Klein, as Reed’s second-half insertion against LSU last Saturday resulted in a 31-6 run, including three rushing touchdowns from the redshirt freshman.
As Herbstreit noted, South Carolina has had a week to prepare for Reed’s dual-threat running ability. It’s all about playcalling, timing, and execution. Utilizing zone-read looks while Reed manipulates defenders’ eyes was the key to four of A&M’s five consecutive scoring drives, as A&M’s red zone offense is still one of the best in the country.
Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if South Carolina’s defense is ready for any counter-run looks that led to several open looks for Reed against the Tigers. However, this is all premature before knowing when he’ll see the field against the Gamecocks.
Texas A&M will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on either ABC.
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Nick Saban will be in Baton Rouge next week. Except this time he’s on a TV set and not the sideline.
With College Gameday selecting the LSU-Alabama meeting for its week 11 destination, it means a return to Baton Rouge for Nick Saban.
Perhaps no man is more familiar with this rivalry than Saban, who coached at LSU from 2000-2004 before he built his dynasty at Alabama from 2007-2023. Saban led LSU to a national title in 2003 and added six more rings at Alabama.
He’ll be remembered for his time at Alabama, but Saban often speaks highly of his years in Baton Rouge.
Saban’s last public appearance in Baton Rouge was in 2022 — when Brian Kelly and Jayden Daniels upset Saban’s Crimson Tide squad.
Now that Saban is off the sideline, he’ll have a chance to appreciate LSU and Baton Rouge in a different way. I’d expect Gameday to lean into the storyline, playing with the energy from the crowd.
Saban’s 48 wins at LSU rank fifth in program history. His .750 win percentage ranks second, only behind Les Miles, among LSU coaches with two or more seasons.
LSU and Alabama each have open weeks in week 10, but the game is college football’s premier matchup in week 11.
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ESPN’s College GameDay crew has predicted the winner of Texas A&M vs. South Carolina
Texas A&M’s 7-1 start and 5-0 SEC-leading conference record are on the line on Saturday night. The Aggies will enter a packed and very loud Williams-Brice Stadium against a South Carolina team that’s much better than the Gamecocks’ record shows.
Just a week after the Aggies’ 38-23 comeback win over then-8th-ranked LSU, first-year head coach Mike Elko deserves the bulk of the credit for establishing a team culture built on physicality and relentless effort. At the same time, his insertion of redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed into the lineup against the Tigers practically saved the season.
However, after Reed entered the game for starting quarterback Conner Weigman, who struggled throughout the first half, Elko stated throughout the week that both players would receive equal starting snaps to earn the job, as a decision will likely be revealed hours before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff.
On Saturday, ESPN’s College Gameday crew picked the winner of Texas A&M vs. South Carolina. It was almost a clean sweep for the Aggies, as Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit all picked Texas A&M, mainly due to Reed’s versatility and the Aggies’ recent momentum after beating LSU.
Guest picker actor/comedian Keegan Michael Key was the only one to pick South Carolina. On SEC Nation, every picker outside of Paul Finebaum also selected the Aggies.
ESPN’s College Gameday and SEC Nation make their picks for Texas A&M-South Carolina pic.twitter.com/DlhRomp3Br
Texas A&M will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on either ABC.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.
Check out who Nick Saban picked to win Saturday’s Top 25 games in Week 10 of the college football season — and which SEC team he picked to lose in an upset.
The Alabama Crimson Tide are on a bye week after shutting out the Missouri Tigers, 34-0, last Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama, 6-2 overall and ranked No. 14 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll, will return to the field on Nov. 9 when the Crimson Tide head to Baton Rouge for their annual showdown with the LSU Tigers in what is a de facto playoff elimination game for both teams.
ESPN and the “College GameDay” crew announced Saturday that they will be in Baton Rouge next week for Tide vs. Tigers. Kickoff will be at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
In the meantime, former Alabama football coach Nick Saban made his predictions for Week 10 games in both the SEC and Top 25 ahead of the top-five matchup between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Penn State Nittany Lions.
Here’s who Saban picked while joining Rece Davis, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and celebrity guest picker Keegan-Michael Key on the field at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.
Nick Saban Week 10 SEC, Top 25 college football picks
For the Ohio State-Penn State showdown, Saban went with the Nittany Lions and injected a bit of humor into his prediction.
“We have two former Alabama players playing on their team, but I got no birthday present from them,” Saban said while drawing laughter from the rest of the GameDay crew. “So, we’re going with Penn State.”
In other Top 25 action, Saban picked No. 20 SMU to beat No. 17 Pitt and the No. 8 Clemson Tigers to beat the Louisville Cardinals. Saban also picked No. 5 Miami to beat Duke and No. 10 Iowa State to beat Texas Tech.
In SEC action, Saban picked the Arkansas Razorbacks to pull an upset over Lane Kiffin and the No. 18 Ole Miss Rebels. He also favored the No. 11 Texas A&M Aggies to beat the South Carolina Gamecocks.
College Gameday is headed to Baton Rouge for LSU’s meeting with Alabama
College Gameday is heading to Baton Rouge. The show announced LSU vs. Alabama as its week 11 destination.
Gameday is no stranger to the LSU and Alabama game. This will be the show’s 13th time at the game — tying LSU and Alabama with Penn State and Ohio State for the show’s most frequent matchup.
The pick makes sense. The game is the only one on the week 11 slate featuring two top-15 teams. The only other ranked vs. ranked game is Georgia at Ole Miss, but it’s LSU getting the primetime slot on ABC.
This will be LSU’s second College Gameday appearance of 2024. The Tigers were featured earlier this year when Gameday was in Colombia for LSU’s win over South Carolina.
Gameday is taking its first trip to LSU since Oct. 12, 2019, when Joe Burrow led LSU to a win over Florida. Overall, this will be LSU’s 36th appearance on the show and 14th time hosting the show in Baton Rouge.
Nick Saban’s presence on Gameday will bring a new flavor to the show as he returns to his old stomping grounds. Fans should also expect Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit to be on the call for ABC.
There was a lot of negative talk about Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney and the job he was doing at Clemson since the start of the NIL era of college football, but those discussions have subsided quickly as the Tigers are one of the top teams in the country this season.
ESPN’s College GameDay crew discussed Swinney and the Tigers recent turnaround, crediting Swinney for his excellent work. One of those sharing their high opinion of Swinney was legendary retired head coach Nick Saban, who is all too familiar with Clemson’s head coach.
“People kinda wrote them off after the Georgia game,” Saban said Saturday morning. “They’ve won every game since. They’re averaging 45 points per game,” Saban said. “They’ve got a young defense. That young defense has gotten better and better as the season has gone on. I think Dabo has done a fantastic job of having this team develop into a top team that needs to be considered for the ACC title.”
Swinney will look to continue to impress as Clemson takes on Louisville Saturday at 7:30 pm eastern on ESPN.
