ESPN College GameDay Crew Makes Picks for 2025 SEC Championship

Did Nick Saban pick Alabama to take down Georgia during Saturday's pregame show in Atlanta?

ESPN's College GameDay with Kalen DeBoer and Kirby Smart at the 2025 SEC Championship | Obtained from Alabama Football's X/Twitter

ESPN's College GameDay chose Atlanta to host this week's pregame show as No. 9 Alabama is facing No. 3 Georgia in the 2025 SEC Championship at 3 p.m. CT on ABC.

The renowned college football program came to Atlanta for multiple reasons, one of which being that the outcome of this battle at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will have a major impact on the College Football Playoff landscape and seeding. Another reason is that this is a rematch from a Sept. 27 game, as the Crimson Tide outlasted the Bulldogs 24-21 in Athens, Ga.

The analysts on College GameDay close the three-hour morning show by making their picks for who wins every game on Conference Championship Saturday. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban is one of the analysts, alongside Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Kirk Herbstreit and host Rece Davis (who doesn't make a pick). They are also joined by a celebrity guest each week, with Saturday's being Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson, a Georgia graduate.

So, which panelists picked Alabama over Georgia, and how many chose the Bulldogs over the Crimson Tide?

• Desmond Howard: Georgia
• Nick Saban: Alabama
• Ernie Johnson: Georgia
• Pat McAfee: Georgia

A bit after his retirement on Jan. 10, 2024, Saban, who won six National Championships at Alabama, joined ESPN's College GameDay as an analyst.

The program, which first aired in 1987, has had a plethora of new faces serve as panelists over the years, and last season's addition in Saban truly made a massive impression on the rest of the group and viewers of the show as well.

“I think a lot of people can relate to this, when you leave a profession where you worked for 50 years and go do something else. And then having the opportunity to be part of GameDay and look at the game from 1,000 feet and work with you guys, who have helped me tremendously," Saban said on Jan. 1, 2025.

Fans are seeing a different side of Saban at the desk as he tells jokes and shares his laughter with millions, while also giving thorough analysis for a variety of teams and positions that got the college football world excited to see him on the screen whenever he opened his mouth.

"He's been phenomenal," Davis said in October 2024. "The quickness with which he has adapted to television. He's one of the most gifted communicators I've ever been around. He can explain things and grab your attention in psychological football or he's telling you about his business ventures. He can communicate. Everybody knows this and it's why everyone in the world wants him to come and speak."

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