Nick Saban fires up College GameDay crowd in Alabama, apologizes to Kalen DeBoer

Legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban is back in Tuscaloosa today with the College GameDay crew ahead of the Crimson Tide's highly anticipated clash with undefeated Vanderbilt.

And he had a message for the Tide faithful, firing up the crowd that had gathered around the College GameDay set.

"Revenge is not supposed to be a factor," Saban said. "But it is a factor today."

Of course, all the talk this week leading up to this SEC showdown was about Vanderbilt's 40-35 upset win over Alabama in Nashville last year. That stunner also came on the heels of the Tide securing a huge win over Georgia, which is the backdrop for this meeting after Alabama's 24-21 win in Athens last week.

“Revenge is not supposed to be a factor. But it is a factor today.”

Nick Saban getting ‘em HYPE in Tuscaloosa ahead of today’s game against Vandy. pic.twitter.com/SpOCnPmWCa
— SEC Unfiltered (@SECUnfiltered) October 4, 2025

Later, the GameDay crew was joined by Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, who sat next to his legendary predecessor on the set.

Pat McAfee created an awkward and entertaining moment by reminding DeBoer that Saban had commented before the Alabama-Vanderbilt game last year that "The only place you play in the SEC that's not hard to play in is Vanderbilt."

Before DeBoer could respond to McAfee's question about how much he's brought up that loss at Vandy with his team this week, Saban interjected.

"Public apology for saying that," Saban said, eliciting laughter on the set.

DeBoer, meanwhile, didn't take the bait and spoke in general terms about learning from setbacks.

"I think in everything you do, you have to learn from your experiences, and obviously, the positive ones, those are easy to learn from, but you have to learn from your negative ones as well," DeBoer said. "Our guys have done a great job taking from that and taking from what we've experienced this year, too, and there's been some ups and downs obviously. And so, just again, I use the word channeling energy into the right things and focusing on us, and that's really where we've kept it."

Alabama (3-1) comes into the day ranked No. 10 in the AP poll, having surged back up the rankings after losing to Florida State in the season opener. Vanderbilt (5-0), meanwhile, is ranked No. 16 after its strong start, which included a 31-7 win over South Carolina in its lone SEC game so far. DeBoer commented on the Commodores and their veteran quarterback, Diego Pavia, who completed 16 of 20 passes for 252 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions (plus 56 rushing yards) vs. the Tide last year.

"They're 5-0 for a reason and have the year going that they have because of his leadership -- he just does a great job leading the charge for their program," DeBoer said. "But I think you've also got to make sure you don't overlook all the other playmakers that he has around him that he's really trusting. They've just come together, and it's going to be a great challenge for us today."

Saban, meanwhile, had some praise for his Alabama successor after DeBoer's segment, when asked which team in college football has the best road win so far this year.

"First of all, OK, having been at Penn State last week, see the energy and enthusiasm of a 'White Out', you have to give Oregon a lot of credit to go in there and having a chance to be successful. They did a great job, Dan Lanning did a great job, the quarterback Dante Moore did a great job," Saban said. "But ... Alabama going to Georgia, beating Georgia at Georgia after a 33-game [home] win streak ..."

The Alabama fans in attendance roared in approval to Saban's response yet again.