Pat McAfee sends clear message on Nick Saban after SEC admission

Nick Saban retired from Alabama in January 2024 after a record run and was officially hired by ESPN to work on College GameDay less than a month later.

Across 28 seasons as a college head coach, Saban compiled 297 career wins and seven national championships (one at LSU, six at Alabama), a tally that places him among the most decorated coaches in FBS history and earned him recent Hall of Fame recognition.

On Saturday’s College GameDay, Kirk Herbstreit opened a debate about the depth in the SEC, Saban's former conference.

“Right now, this conference has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven teams in the top 14," Herbstreit said. "How many teams is this conference going to get (in the College Football Playoff)?”

McAfee then turned to the retired coach: “You ask Coach Saban? Coach Saban wants eight of them.”

Saban shot back: “No doubt. And I want to thank Kirk for bringing that up because if I brought it up, everybody says I'm an SEC homer, which I am.”

McAfee later reshared the clip on X with the message, “YOU ARE,” confirmed Saban as an “SEC homer.”

"I am an SEC homer" 😂😂 ~ Coach Saban

YOU ARE 😂😂 #CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/pq3dh43scA
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 15, 2025

By shifting from coaching to commentary, Saban brings a commanding voice to GameDay at a time when the evolving playoff format and conference have complicated decision-making for the CFP committee.

McAfee, already a prominent media personality and regular GameDay voice, has since developed a friendly, teasing on-air rapport with the Hall of Fame coach, as Saturday’s broadcast made clear.

ESPN personality Nick Saban. — ESPN personality Nick Saban does the Guns Up gesture toward Texas Tech students before a Big 12 Conference football game at Jones AT&T Stadium. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The committee’s Week 12 top 25 (released Nov. 11) places Ohio State at No. 1, followed by Indiana and Texas A&M; Alabama and Georgia sit at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

The list shows seven SEC teams currently inside the top 14 — Texas A&M (3), Alabama (4), Georgia (5), Ole Miss (7), Texas (10), Oklahoma (11), and Vanderbilt (14); more than any other conference.

Texas, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt each have two losses on the year, while Ole Miss, Georgia, and Alabama have just one loss, and Texas A&M remains undefeated.

In the next three weeks, either all seven teams will make the postseason, or a dominant (potentially two-loss) SEC program will be left out as the committee chooses a different path.

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