"There’s a lot of top-end good teams": Nick Saban raises eyebrows by grouping Alabama with SEC contenders in brutally honest take

Nick Saban shared his prediction for the SEC championship for the upcoming 2025 college football season. In 2024, the legendary coach had accurately predicted the SEC Championship matchup, forecasting that Georgia and Texas would compete for the title.

Entering his second season as a full-time media member, Saban is placing Alabama among the contenders for the conference crown. The former Crimson Tide coach disclosed his prediction for 2025 at his annual Nick’s Kids Foundation Luncheon inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“I think Texas is one of the teams that obviously is really, really good this year,” Saban said on Tuesday.

“I think LSU has got a shot to be really good. I think Florida’s got a shot to be really good. I think Alabama and Georgia both have a shot to be really good. So I think there’s a lot of sort of top-end good teams.”

Alabama finished the 2024 season with a 9-4 record, missing out on the College Football Playoff and losing its bowl game. However, ahead of Kalen DeBoer’s second season at the program, Nick Saban foresees his successor leading the Crimson Tide to something better.

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Nick Saban believes SEC’s depth could be a disadvantage to its teams

The SEC is arguably the deepest conference in college football in terms of teams’ quality, which became even more evident with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma.

However, Nick Saban believes it could place the conference’s top teams at a disadvantage with the CFP selection committee, as strength of schedule isn't believed to be well-rewarded.

“It gets to be a little bit of a disadvantage because you get penalized for losses more in college football than you (get rewarded) for strength of schedule, which was unfortunate for Alabama last year in terms of getting in the Playoffs,” Saban said.

“But, hopefully, we’ll get that fixed and work together to try to do it in the future, so that strength of schedule becomes an important part of how you get selected to get the playoffs. And you shouldn’t get penalized for playing in a championship. So, hopefully, all those things will come to fruition.”

Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina were seen as the victims of the issue Nick Saban raised last season.

The three teams finished the regular season with a 9-3 record. However, they all missed out on the playoffs despite playing tougher schedules than a host of two-loss teams that made it. That remains an extensively discussed topic in the landscape.