Nick Saban calls College GameDay picks rat poison: ‘I used to hate it’
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Nick Saban used to do everything he could to shield his teams from media narratives during his long, successful coaching career.
Now, as a member of the media himself, Saban has a look behind the curtain every single week during the college football season. That doesn’t mean he’s not warning against players placing too much weight on what gets said about them on the airwaves.
The legendary former head coach and current College GameDay analyst was reminded of his past life on Saturday when a clip from ESPN’s six-part documentary, Saban, was played.
“You can listen to me, or you can listen to them f***ing guys on ESPN,” he said in the clip.
Saban defended his position.
“It’s rat poison, okay? It’s rat poison,” Saban said on Saturday. “I used to hate it on Saturday morning. And I’m sitting there, and we’re playing the game later in the day, and everybody here picks us to win. And I know the players are watching that. And I’m wondering, is that going to affect their psychological disposition toward competing, the intensity they have, how they’re going to play in the game?”
“Should they listen to people on ESPN now, or no?” Pat McAfee asked.
“Hell no,” Saban cracked.
For the record, Saban, along with Desmond Howard and guest picker Bryce Young, picked Alabama to beat Georgia on Saturday. McAfee went against the grain and picked the Bulldogs. Kirk Herbstreit didn’t pick since he’s calling the game with Chris Fowler.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
