The College Football Playoff semifinals get underway tonight but, eight games in to the sport's first full-fledged postseason tournament, so far one of the tensest battles we've seen took place before the action began.
I'm talking about comedian Shane Gillis's showdown with Nick Saban.
Gillis, a one-time Elon offensive lineman and a Notre Dame fan, appeared on College GameDay as the show broadcast in and around Notre Dame Stadium ahead of the first on-campus first round game on Friday, Dec. 20.
Gillis made a joke and... well, it's better if you just watch.
Tension is the lubricant that fuels the engine of comedy... but that tension felt real. Watching from home thousands of miles away, I had to look away from the screen out of second-hand embarrassment. Those laughs from the other four panelists felt forced, as a means of diffusing an interaction that otherwise would've been met with awkward silence.
For Gillis, it was mission accomplished. Whether Saban was play-mad or real-mad, either way the interaction went viral and he came away with a story to tell.
On a podcast clip that surfaced recently, Gillis explained that Saban was actually mad and, after Saban unloaded on him, the two had another awkward interaction well after the cameras stopped rolling.
This makes Shane Gillis vs Nick Saban even funnier 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/l19jfjPZvP
— Joe Ostrowski (@JoeOstrowski) January 9, 2025
Either way, expect Gillis back on GameDay at least once in 2025.