The Alabama Crimson Tide will have the eyes of the college football world on it on Saturday evening when take on the Georgia Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa in what is poised to be one of the marquee matchups of the season in the entire sport.
Due to the magnitude of the game, the fact that College GameDay will be in town did not come as a surprise to anyone, but this time around, it have a special wrinkle due to the fact that Nick Saban will be on the desk this time around.
While GameDay was in Tuscaloosa during Saban’s tenure, Alabama went 9-5 during their 14 appearances, with the first time, ironically, against Georgia in a game the Tide would lose during Saban’s first season in 2007.
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With four more losses in Bryant-Denny with GameDay in attendance (LSU 2011, Ole Miss 2015, LSU 2019, Texas 2023), the Tide certainly did not always fare great with the big spotlight on the game.
This time around, Saban will be on the desk as an analyst rather than in the locker room as the head coach. This means that he will be forced to pick a winner — even though he obviously has a close emotional tie to Alabama.
Saban, who went 5-1 against Kirby Smart’s Georgia teams, will be forced to either pick his former defensive coordinator who helped the Tide win titles in Smart, or his successor who is trying to continue the foundation that Saban laid in Kalen DeBoer.
Surely it will not be an easy choice for Saban.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
