Nick Saban is no longer the head coach of the Alabama football team, and it has already been weird to see a new head coach represent the Crimson Tide at SEC media days. Kalen DeBoer is the new head coach for Alabama, but Saban is still very involved with the college football world. He is actually still at SEC media days because of his new gig with ESPN. In fact, Saban made a prediction for the SEC championship game, and he picked Texas and Georgia to make it, not the Crimson Tide.
Alabama football fans aren't going to like that. There's no shame in having a worse season than Georgia and Texas, but the expectation every year in Tuscaloosa is a conference title and more, and that isn't changing even though Nick Saban is gone.
Saban and Alabama took down Georgia in the SEC championship game last season in the legendary coach's final SEC football game, but it seems like he thinks the Crimson Tide will take a step back this season. They did suffer their worst home loss of the Saban era against Texas last year, and the Longhorns are expected to be even better in 2024.
Alabama players obviously heard the prediction that their former coach made, but they aren't letting it to get them. Offensive guard Tyler Booker had a pretty funny response after hearing the prediction.
“(Saban) always said don't let some guy who lives in his mom's basement determine how you feel,” Tyler Booker said, according to a post from Brett McMurphy. “I'm not going to let a guy who plays golf all day determine how I feel.”
Saban will probably love that. At the end of the day, it wouldn't be surprising at all if that prediction is Saban's new way of motivating the Alabama football team now that he isn't the head coach.
Alabama has the third best odds to win the SEC
Nick Saban's prediction is a bit surprising because of the fact that he was just the head coach of Alabama football for over 15 years, but most people are expecting Georgia and Texas to be better than the Crimson Tide. A big reason why is because Alabama doesn't have Saban anymore. He is one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and quite frankly, who knows how the Crimson Tide will look now that he is gone.
In terms of betting odds, the book are thinking that Georgia and Texas will be better as well. The Bulldogs have the best odds to win the conference on FanDuel at +185, and the Longhorns are right behind them with +350 odds. Alabama has the third best odds behind those two teams as they come in at +700.
The race for the SEC is going to end up being a tight one this year. There are a ton of good teams from top to bottom, and it wouldn't be surprising at all if the conference ends up getting four or more teams into the College Football Playoff. This is definitely one of the top two conferences in college football.
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