Nick Saban

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban offered an assessment of what he saw from the Crimson Tide in their 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt on Oct. 5.

During Saturday's episode of College Gameday, Saban explained that Alabama showed "a little complacency, almost even arrogance" in the wake of the Georgia victory that it cost the team against Vandy.

The Oct. 5 victory marked Vanderbilt's first win over a team ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll. Alabama entered the game ranked No. 1 overall coming off its dramatic 41-34 victory against Georgia on Sept. 28.

Vandy's 40 points scored were equal to its total in the previous seven games combined against Alabama dating back to 2001.

Alabama had won 23 straight games against the Commodores since 1985. The Crimson Tide won the previous three games in the battle between SEC teams with Saban as head coach by a combined score of 148-3.

Saban has been complimentary Vanderbilt's effort in the game, and there were some indications that this version of the Commodores could at least cause Alabama problems.

In its previous game on Sept. 21, Vandy had a strong showing against then-No. 7 Missouri before falling 30-27 in double overtime.

While no one would confuse the amount of offensive talent on Georgia's roster for Vanderbilt's, the Bulldogs did at least offer a blueprint to opposing teams for how to score against Alabama.

The Bulldogs scored 27 points in the second half after falling behind 30-7 at halftime. The comeback included four touchdown drives of at least 67 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown reception by Dillon Bell that briefly gave Georgia 34-33 lead with 2:31 remaining.

Vanderbilt's approach was more methodical by controlling the clock. It held the ball for more than 42 minutes and turned both of Alabama's turnovers into touchdowns. Diego Pavia was able to create big plays through the air when he was asked to throw, averaging 12.6 yards per attempt with two touchdown passes on 20 attempts.

It's not unusual for a talented team to have a let down coming off a big win against a marquee opponent. It didn't happen a lot to Alabama under Saban, but this is a new era with Kalen DeBoer still trying to establish his own culture and identity with the program.

Alabama will look to get back on track when it hosts South Carolina on Saturday.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban offered words of encouragement to Kirby Smart in the wake of Georgia's 41-34 loss to the Crimson Tide on Sept. 28.

Appearing on Friday's episode of The Pat McAfee Show, Saban revealed he texted Smart after that game to let him know it "might be the best thing that happens" to the Bulldogs because it gave them a wake-up call that might not have otherwise gotten through.

This is an interesting comment from a coach who was notorious for how much he hated losing games.

Saban has even said that his primary motivating factor as a head coach was not wanting to lose more than winning.

"Well I think, you know, A, probably hate to lose. Because I do think that….for me, fear of failure has always been a great motivator. You want to win. Want to be the best. But, just hate losing. Always hated losing, even when I was a kid. So, I would say that's probably the biggest thing," Saban said in October 2023.

There weren't a whole lot of losses for Saban during his tenure with the Crimson Tide to get mad about. He lost 29 games in 17 seasons at Alabama, with six coming in his first year in 2007.

Saban's team in 2015 lost in its third game of the season to Mississippi before rattling off 12 consecutive wins, capped off by a 45-40 victory over Clemson in the College Football Playoff Championship Game.

If there is any coach in the country who understands Saban's perspective, it would be Smart. The 48-year-old was an assistant on Saban's staff for nine seasons from 2007 to '15 before he was hired by Georgia in December 2015.

The Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll for the first three weeks of the season. They lived up to that billing by outscoring their opponents 95-18 in the first three games, but Alabama lit up the defense to the tune of 41 points and 547 total yards.

Unfortunately for Alabama, the good vibes only lasted for one week before a stunning 40-35 upset loss to Vanderbilt on Oct. 5. Saban admitted he did not talk to new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer after the loss.

Georgia got back on track with a 31-13 win over Auburn last week. It will host Mississippi State on Saturday before a huge showdown against No. 1 Texas at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Oct. 19.

Nick Saban's comments about Vanderbilt resurfaced on Saturday after the Commodores secured an upset victory over No. 1 Alabama.

Vanderbilt won at home by the score of 40-35, representing the school's first win over the Crimson Tide since 1984.

During a Sept. 20 appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, the legendary former Alabama head coach discussed the lack of a hostile road environment that he believed the Commodores possessed.

"The only place you're going to play in the SEC that's not hard to play, Vanderbilt," Saban said (h/t Steve Samra of On3.com). "When you play at Vanderbilt, you have more fans there than they have, and that's no disrespect to them, it's the truth."

Fans were quick to reference his quote following the surprising loss on Saturday.

Saban's teams were dominant at FirstBank Stadium throughout his tenure with the program, allowing Vanderbilt to score just 13 total points (via NBC Sports' Nicole Auerbach).

While it's true that his Crimson Tide squads weren't fazed by the road environment, his comments were clearly used as bulletin board material by the Commodores. They secured their first win over a top-five team on Saturday after they previously owned a record of 0-60 against such opponents, per Stewart Mandel of The Athletic.

After a statement win over No. 5 Georgia on Sept. 28, Alabama followed it up with a shocking defeat on Saturday.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban had some nice things to say about Miami head coach Mario Cristobal during his appearance on ESPN's College GameDay, but Cristobal couldn't help but tell a small joke to troll the 72-year-old.

While Saban was praising Cristobal for speaking Spanish to connect with recruits in Miami when he worked as an assistant at Alabama (9:15 mark), Cristobal quipped, "I was protecting him from Dolphins fans."

Before joining Alabama in 2007 and going on to become one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, Saban spent two years in the NFL coaching the Miami Dolphins. After finishing second in the AFC East with a 9-7 record in 2005, the team finished last in the division with a 6-10 record the following year before he left to join the Crimson Tide.

Saban's departure from Miami was somewhat controversial because he repeatedly denied the notion that he would be Alabama's head coach before ultimately accepting the position.

"I guess I have to say it. I'm not going to be the Alabama coach," Saban said on Dec. 21, 2006. He was named Crimson Tide head coach on Jan. 3, 2007.

Saban recently told ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit that he would've considered staying with the Dolphins had the team chosen to sign Drew Brees prior to the 2006 season. Brees was recovering from a career-threatening shoulder injury, so Miami opted to trade for veteran quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who was still recovering from a knee injury that derailed his career.

"I think if we would've signed Drew Brees, I probably would've been happy at Miami," Saban said.

Cristobal can help improve Saban's stature in Miami, as he's led the Hurricanes to a 5-0 start and a No. 8 ranking entering Saturday's matchup against Cal.

Legendary head coach Nick Saban lamented the current NIL structure in the wake of UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka's abrupt exit from the team.

Despite the 23rd-ranked Rebels getting off to a 3-0 start, Sluka announced he's redshirting for the remainder of the season and alluded to an NIL dispute as the precipitating factor.

As a panelist on College GameDay, Saban said he's "not opposed at all to college players making money" but said the status quo is not "a manageable system." He contended that NIL deals are closer to direct pay-for-play payments rather than endorsement contracts.

Two things can be true.

It was long past time that student-athletes were compensated in some form when conferences are signing media rights deals worth hundreds of millions annually. The most recent rounds of realignment make it even harder to maintain the facade of amateurism as well.

Having said that, the frenzied rollout of the NIL era foreshadowed a future in which situations like Sluka's would arise. In May, Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada also sued Florida head coach Billy Napier and a school booster after an NIL deal reportedly worth nearly $14 million fell apart.

Marcus Cromartie, Sluka's agent, told ESPN's Pete Thamel and Adam Rittenberg the former Holy Cross star had a verbal agreement worth $100,000 with a Rebels assistant coach.

Friends of UNILV, a collective for the school, said it never agreed to a deal with Sluka, either verbally or more formally, and "was not involved in the recruiting process."

UNLV released its own statement saying a representative "made financial demands upon the University and its NIL collective in order to continue playing." The school believed that represented an NCAA violation and even went against Nevada state law:

There are no winners from this.

Sluka apparently missed out on a six-figure payday and he'll be looked upon as somebody who walked away from his team. That could hinder his efforts to continue his college career elsewhere.

The Rebels, meanwhile, saw what could be their best season in ages get significantly disrupted. They'll hope one of Hajj-Malik Williams or Cameron Friel can continue to power their College Football Playoff quest.

Whether it's from the NCAA or through Congressional intervention, uniform regulations within the NIL ecosystem are desperately needed.

Terry Saban, the wife of former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, will serve as the celebrity guest picker for ESPN's Saturday College GameDay coverage of Alabama vs. Georgia.

"I've already been working on my picks, and I think I'm going to beat Nick," Terry Saban told fans in a Friday video.

Nick Saban made his debut as a College GameDay analyst in August after retiring following 17 years with Alabama.

During that span, Saban led the Crimson Tide to a 201-29 overall record on the team's way to nine SEC championships and six national titles.

One month after Saban's January retirement, ESPN announced they had hired the former coach as a College GameDay analyst who would also make appearances during events like SEC media days and the NFL draft.

After making several guest appearances on the program during his college career, Saban made his debut as an analyst on Aug. 31 during Fresno State at Michigan.

Now, when he is joined for Week 5 by his wife of more than 50 years, the question will be whether the Sabans' allegiances to Alabama will influence this weekend's picks.

When asked after ESPN's hire whether he would automatically pick Alabama, Saban told Ryan Hennessy of WVTM 13 in Birmingham he didn't "know that you always have to pick the team that you think is gonna win."

"You're allowed to have a spiritual feeling about who you like and who you want to win. So I think it'll be a lot of fun," Saban said in February.

Fans will have to see if that sentiment sways either Saban as they make their picks ahead of Saturday's matchup between No. 2 Georgia and No. 4 Alabama. The matchup will pit top quarterbacks against one another as Georgia's Carson Beck and Alabama's Jalen Milroe battle to for the chance to lead their respective teams to open the season with a 4-0 record.

Ahead of Arch Manning's much-anticipated first start for Texas, Nick Saban offered an assessment of the the highly-touted quarterback's skill set based on what he's seen so far.

On Saturday's episode of College Gameday, Saban assessed three different plays from Manning's appearance against UTSA last week to show where he's already strong and what needs work.

The first two plays—one run, one pass—were very positive for Manning and Texas because they resulted in touchdowns. Saban praised him for going to the over route on the pass play that led to a 19-yard touchdown catch for DeAndre Moore Jr.

The second play is a simple zone-read option in which Manning keeps the ball when the edge defender bit by going at Quintrevion Wisner. The freshman showed off his speed and athleticism on a 67-yard touchdown run.

It was the third play where Saban showed the areas that Manning has to work on. It was a third-down situation when UTSA brought pressure with a blitz, but Manning didn't adjust and was sacked to end the drive.

That final play can be attributed to a simple lack of reps, rather than something to be overly concerned about. Manning only had 11 career pass attempts prior to entering last week's game after Quinn Ewers left in the second quarter with an oblique injury.

Despite the third-down mishap Saban pointed out, Manning's first extended game action was overall very impressive against an opponent at an extreme talent disadvantage. He finished 9-of-12 for 223 yards and four touchdowns through the air and 53 rushing yards with a score on three carries.

Manning, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, will have a chance to show off what he's learned after getting first-team reps all week when he leads the top-ranked Longhorns against Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.

Former University of Alabama head football coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban defended University of Florida head coach Billy Napier on Saturday amid the Gators' disappointing 1-2 start.

Speaking on ESPN College GameDay (h/t On3.com's Matt Connolly), Saban suggested the university itself is more to blame for the football team's struggles than Napier, citing shortcomings with regard to team facilities and the name, image and likeness (NIL) collective:

"Well, I think maybe the problem isn't the coaches. You know, they've been through four coaches since [Steve] Spurrier and Urban Meyer, who both created a tremendous culture of winning there. And sometimes the fanbase can just think, 'Well we can show up and expect to win.' And not make the commitment to the program that you need to make to be able to continue to make the changes and investments you need to make to keep up with changing times.

"Things change. … They should've taken advantage of building better facilities when Urban Meyer was there. What's there collective been like? How have they adapted to this new model of college football? So it's not just the coaches. When you've been through four coaches that haven't had success, there's something else that people should be looking at."

Entering the 2024 season, the Gators had finished below .500 in three consecutive campaigns, including each of Napier's first two years at the helm.

To Saban's point, Florida was an elite program during the tenures of Spurrier and Meyer, winning three national titles during their 18 combined years at the helm.

From 1990 to 2001, the Gators went 122-27-1 under Spurrier and won the national championship in 1996.

After Spurrier left Gainesville at the conclusion of the 2001 season, Ron Zook took over as head coach, but he departed after just three seasons, giving way to Meyer.

During Meyer's six-year run at Florida, the Gators were 65-15 and won national titles in both 2006 and 2008. Remarkably, three of Meyer's six seasons in charge saw Florida finish with a 13-1 record.

Since Meyer's departure, the Gators have posted four seasons with double-digit wins, but they have not been national title contenders.

The decision-makers at the school have seemingly been searching for the secret sauce to get back to that point, which is likely why Florida has cycled through so many different head coaches in recent years.

Will Muschamp spent four years at the helm, followed by three years of Jim McElwain and four years of Dan Mullen.

Mullen led the Gators to a bowl game in each of his four seasons, won double-digit games twice and finished ranked inside the top 10 three times, but it wasn't enough to prevent his firing late in the 2021 campaign.

While Mullen didn't achieve the same levels of success as Spurrier or Meyer, Florida fans would likely love to get back to the types of seasons they were having under Mullen given how things have gone thus far under Napier.

Prior to taking the Florida job, Napier built something special at Louisiana, going 40-12 over four seasons, including three straight seasons with at least 10 wins.

That suggests Napier has what it takes to be a great collegiate head coach, and it perhaps lends credence to what Saban said about some deeper issues within Florida's football program.

Per 247Sports, Florida had the 13th-ranked recruiting class for 2024 and is ranked 21st so far for 2025. While those aren't terrible rankings, the Gators ranked first in Meyer's final season in 2010, and they may need to get back to those levels in order to compete for an SEC title and a College Football Playoff spot.

For now, Florida will rely on Napier's coaching to turn things around this season, and it starts with a road game against Mississippi State on Saturday.

After the Carolina Panthers opted to bench Bryce Young after Week 2, one person who knows the young quarterback well chimed in.

Nick Saban, who coached Young during his time at Alabama, gave his thoughts on the Panthers' decision to bench the 2023 No. 1 overall pick on the Pat McAfee Show on Friday, saying that Carolina didn't have a roster that could allow Young to find success early in his career.

"You guys have heard me say before, quarterback is a really hard position to play if the people around you don't play well," Saban said (3:11 mark). "Now I think sometimes the quarterback gets too much credit and I also think sometimes when things don't go well, the quarterback gets too much blame. Do they have the kind of players around Bryce Young that even gives him a chance to be successful? That's one of the bad things about being the first guy picked in the draft, you may go to a team that doesn't have all the pieces that you need... Carolina did not and they have to build this thing from the ground up. I hate to see Bryce get benched, but I also don't see a lot of opportunity for him to be successful based on the skill players they have around him, the offensive line they have around him and I think he's the type of player that can operate well when he has good players around him."

Young had a forgetful rookie year, throwing for 2,877 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as the Panthers finished a league-worst 2-15.

His struggles have continued through the first two weeks of the 2024 season. He completed 13 of his 30 passes for 161 passing yards and a pair of interceptions in a 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints before throwing for 84 yards and an interception on Sunday in a 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

But Saban has faith in the quarterback who won the 2021 Heisman Trophy while playing for the Crimson Tide. The legendary coach thinks Young will learn from his early mistakes and step up once he's given the opportunity to start again.

"I think he's going to be positive about trying to learn and grow from this situation," Saban said. "He's always been a guy that sort of improved from his failings, so hopefully this will be an opportunity for him to do it again."

In the meantime, Young will look to continue developing and improving from the bench while playing behind Andy Dalton.