Nick Saban believes the Alabama Crimson Tide will win its first Third Saturday in October matchup against the Tennessee Volunteers with Kalen DeBoer as coach.
Saban made his prediction for Alabama-Tennessee from the set of College GameDay, which is in Austin, Texas, this week for the top-5 SEC showdown between the Georgia Bulldogs and host Texas Longhorns.
“I’ve got to go ‘Bama,” Saban said before picking the Tide.
Fellow GameDay panelists Lee Corso and celebrity guest picker Scottie Scheffler agreed with Saban and favored Alabama to win. Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit picked Tennessee.
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Earlier in the broadcast, Saban said repeatedly that Alabama had to find ways to get its defense off the field on third down. That’s something that has been a problem from the Crimson Tide in its last 10 quarters dating back to the second half against Georgia in Week 5.
“When you play one of these no-huddle, fastball teams and you don’t get off the field on third down, they’re gonna go fast and that’s what wears your defense out,” Saban said during the broadcast. “And you’re gonna have to do it with the people that you have in the game.”
Saban’s full Week 8 SEC, Top 25 picks
In other SEC action, Saban picked the South Carolina Gamecocks to beat the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman and the Arkansas Razorbacks to upset the LSU Tigers in Fayetteville.
For Georgia vs. Texas, Saban used a coin flip to predict a winner.
“I think it’s really unfair to me that two of the best assistant coaches that contributed greatly to our program and the success that we had at Alabama in Sark and Kirby, that I would have to pick one over the over,” Saban joked.
“Texas,” Saban said after the coin landed.
In Top 25 action, Saban picked the Miami Hurricanes to beat the Louisville Cardinals, Illinois and Bret Bielema to beat the Michigan Wolverines, the Nebraska Cornhuskers to hand the Indiana Hoosiers their first loss of the season, and Colorado and Coach Prime to beat the Arizona Wildcats.
Saban also picked his home state West Virginia Mountaineers to take down Kansas State in Morgantown.
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