ESPN's Nick Saban: “Someone has to prove they can beat Georgia”
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ATHENS - Former Alabama coach Nick Saban was adamant Saturday about Kirby Smart’s No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs winning the national title.
“Someone has to prove they can beat Georgia,” Saban said on ESPN’s College Gameday. “The only people that have beaten Georgia in the last two or three years is Alabama.”
Saban coached the Tide in both of those wins. Sandwiched between those two UGA Football losses to the Tide was Georgia’s 33-18 win over Saban and Bama in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game in Indianapolis.
It is hard to know if Saban is being entirely truthful with his pick of the Dawgs, however. On Friday he admitted on the Pat McAfee Show that he was trying to motivate his old program by picking Georgia and Texas to play in the SEC Championship Game in December.
“It is kind of reverse rat poison,” Saban admitted. “I always hated having to predict and make hypothetical decisions on who is going to win a game of a conference. I have always hated that. So I picked Georgia and Texas because it is reverse rat poison for Alabama. It is a motivating factor for (Alabama). I hated to be picked first or second because you don't know how that's going to impact your team.”
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Saban retired from coaching in January. New Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer and the Tide will take on Kirby’s Dawgs in September in Tuscaloosa. It is the first time Georgia will play in front of a full crowd at Alabama since Matthew Stafford-led UGA took out the Saban and the Tide in overtime in 2007.
UGA football’s season opener against the No. 14 Clemson Tigers will kickoff a big opening Saturday of the college football season.
The Bulldogs will take on Dabo Swinney’s program at Noon in Atlanta in a game that will be televised by ABC. The game is the start of a tripleheader on ABC that will feature the Dawgs and Tigers, Miami (FL) at Florida and the nightcap of Notre Dame at Texas A&M. ESPN’s College Gameday is set to broadcast from College Station.