Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, a seven-time college football national champion who also won one at LSU, is now an analyst on ESPN’s hit show College GameDay. Georgia fans have always had mixed opinions on Saban, the greatest of all time. On one hand, he was too dominant. Georgia couldn’t beat him (except in the 2021 national championship), no matter how it tried. On the other hand, how can you not respect Saban and what he did in Tuscaloosa? He caused us nothing but heartbreak, but man, was he awesome.
On Saturday, ahead of Georgia’s game against Mississippi State, he admitted that the respect was mutual.
Saban owned a home on Lake Burton up in Rabun County that he recently sold for a cool $11 million. It’s because of that fact that he is willing to show some love to the Dawgs, who he considers his second-favorite team in college football, behind his Crimson Tide.
“Well, my favorite team is Alabama,” Saban said. “My backup team is Georgia because I had a house there.”
Of course, Saban has other ties to UGA. One being the fact that he played us 10 times during his tenure in Tuscaloosa, winning 8 of them. Here’s a look at each game between Georgia and an Alabama-coached Nick Saban team:
- 2007 – Georgia 26, Alabama 23 (OT)
- 2008 – Alabama 41, Georgia 30
- 2012 – Alabama 32, Georgia 28
- 2018 (CFP Title) – Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT)
- 2018 (SEC Title) – Alabama 35, Georgia 28
- 2020 – Alabama 41, Georgia 24
- 2021 (SEC Title) – Alabama 41, Georgia 24
- 2022 (CFP Title) – Georgia 33, Alabama 18
- 2023 (SEC Title) – Alabama 27, Georgia 24
And then there’s also Kirby Smart, who coached defensive backs for a year and was Saban’s defensive coordinator from 2008-15 before taking his dream job as head coach of his alma mater, UGA.
But most importantly, Saban owned a lakehouse in Georgia.
