This college football season will be a little different for Nick Saban.
The legendary football coach has turned in one headset for another, making the move from coaching at Alabama to talking about the sport he has given so much to as an analyst on ESPN. With the 2024 college football season embarking on the first full Saturday slate of action, the “College GameDay” crew was down in College Station — with Saban a part of the panel — for today’s broadcast ahead of tonight’s highly-anticipated meeting between a pair of ranked teams in Notre Dame and Texas A&M.
And the living legend seemed to enjoy every minute of it.
One such moment came when Saban was discussing roster building in the current state of college football, a moment that had the producers reaching for the mute button, the FCC sensors raising some eyebrows, and Kirk Herbstreit speculating that Saban had just broken the internet:
“You guys keep talking about a 20 million dollar roster. If you don’t pay the right guys, you’ll be shit out of luck.” – Nick Saban
“Congratulations- you just broke the internet.” – Kirk Herbstreit pic.twitter.com/MfGXau6gyh
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 31, 2024
Later in the broadcast, Saban was singing Dirk Koetter’s praises, noting how he always tried to hire him at Alabama. That led to an incredible one-liner from Pat McAfee, and Saban cracking about “low budgets:”
“Dirk Koetter is one of the offensive coordinators I always tried to hire at Alabama, could never get him. He’s at Boise. He’ll do a great job.” – Nick Saban
“That’s ’cause you were spending all your money on your players, coach.” – Pat McAfee pic.twitter.com/y0E8X2RgUY
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 31, 2024
Finally, the show came to a close with the traditional game picks for the featured contest, Notre Dame versus Texas A&M. That included a shirtless McAfee, Lee Corso dressed as a leprechaun, and Saban admitting that the show was “so much fun:”
College GameDay in College Station finishes up with…
* A shirtless Pat McAfee
* Guest picker Johnny Manziel
* Lee Corso dressed — and dancing — as a leprechaun
* Nick Saban (hugged by shirtless McAfee): “I’ve never been to anything like this. This is so much fun.” ️ pic.twitter.com/DjKmYO4XwP— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 31, 2024
If this is just the first week of the season, imagine what awaits.
