Alabama head football coach Nick Saban discussed the future scheduling format brought upon by the SEC, Sports Illustrated college football writer Ross Dellenger wrote in a Friday article.

“I’ve always been an advocate for playing more (conference) games,” Nick Saban said. “But if you play more games, I think you have to get the three fixed (opponents) right. They’re giving us Tennessee, Auburn and LSU. I don’t know how they come to that (decision).”

SEC officials have been discussing an eight- or nine-game divisionless conference schedule with the arrival of Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 in 2024, according to Dellenger. Teams will play one permanent opponent and seven rotating teams in the eight-team format. Teams will play six rotating opponents and three permanent ones in the nine-game format.

The Crimson Tide played against eight conference opponents during the 2022 regular season. Utah State, Texas, the University of Louisiana Monroe and Austin Peay made up the team's non-conference opponents.

They beat all four teams by a combined score of 172-26.

Nick Saban shared a message to Alabama before the football team took on ULM in September.

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“Every player should not be focused on who they are playing against relative to the motivation, but every player should want to be the best player they can be,” Saban said. “Why would it matter, whether we’re playing Texas or playing somebody else? That’s how you get good, that’s how you develop the right habits. That’s how you’re consistent.”

Nick Saban said the conference is using a 10-year success metric to strike the fairest blend of permanent opponents for each team.

“We got three teams and two of them are in the top 10 and the other is in the top 10 a lot,” Saban said. “Look historically over a 25-year history, and the three best teams in the East are Georgia, Tennessee and Florida.

“You look historically at 25 years, Alabama, LSU and Auburn are the three best teams in the West. So we’re playing them all.”