Nick Saban breaks down Alabama-Georgia showdown

Nick Saban lost his first game against Georgia as Alabama's coach back in 2007 and then uncorked seven-consecutive wins in the border-state, SEC rivalry.

After falling to Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff title game after the 2021 season, Saban's last win in his iconic career came against Georgia in last year's SEC Championship.

The Tide were felled in overtime by Michigan in the CFP.

As college football readies for Saturday night's massive showdown in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, pitting the host and No. 4 Tide against second-ranked Georgia, Saban has unique insight for the contest.

"I think it's going to be a great game, and that's why you come to places like this (Alabama) or Georgia, for that matter, because it's an opportunity to play in games like this," Saban said on ESPN's Pat McAfee Show Friday. "Great competitors like to play against really good competition and sort of see how they can have success. If you're playing against somebody you're better than, you don't always get that kind of self-gratification from what you're able to accomplish."

While both teams are 3-0, and each has a quality road win after 'Bama won at Wisconsin and Georgia graveyard-walked past Kentucky, Saban doesn't view either team as close to a finished product -- particularly on the offensive side of the ball.

"These are two really good teams. I don't think either team has really sort of totally found their ceilings, especially on offense, to have the consistency," Saban said. "There's been a little inconsistency in both cases. I think whoever can sort of do that (Saturday) night is probably going to create a pretty significant advantage for themselves, and that will probably start with how the quarterbacks play."

With an office still in the Alabama complex and his statue outside the stadium, Saban still looms large over T-Town and the Tide program.

But he's praising his successor, Kalen DeBoer.

"He's done a fabulous job, in my opinion, of transitioning," Saban said. "This is probably one of the most difficult things. If you take over an unsuccessful program, everybody welcomes the change, everybody welcomes the new hope that is created by having a new coach. But when you take over a successful program, how are people going to respond to you and how are you going to be accepted and how is the changes you make going to be accepted? But, he's shown no ego in taking over and he and I have a really good relationship.

"The changes that he's made still put sort of his stamp on things. I've been really impressed by him. I think he's maybe one of the few guys who could have done this as seamlessly as it's been for him and the players."

Saban, who also had head coaching stints at Power Conference programs Michigan State and LSU, likes this game unfolding early in the college football season -- for both teams and the sport.

"Very abnormal. Usually end of the season, usually December, SEC Championship game, Playoff, whatever it might be," he said. "But, I think this is a good thing. I think it's good to have these kind of games all year long. I think the one thing about this game, people are going to make it a huge game, which it is a really huge game, but at the same time, how do you respond to whatever the consequences of the game are? If you win, how do you move forward in terms of, because you're going to have some other tough games and some real challenges? And if you lose, how do you respond to that because you're going to have some really tough challenges down the road?

"So, and I think as hard as the SEC is with however many teams are in the top 10, which is quite a few, you can lose a game or two and still have a chance to get in the Playoffs. I think it's how you react and respond to the consequences of a game like this that is going to be the key for both teams."

After winning its first two games by 31 and 45 points, Georgia needed to rally to clip Kentucky, 13-12, two weeks ago on the Cats' synthetic bluegrass turf. 

Typically against a team playing poorly and winning, Saban believes Georgia's makeup will allow it to learn from that struggle.

"I always said in the past one of the worst things you could do as a team is play poorly and win," Saban said. "Because how are the players going to respond to that?

"But, knowing Kirby (Smart), knowing Georgia, knowing the kind of success and expectations they have as a team, I would say winning that close game probably was a positive thing for them to be able to say, 'Hey, we need to make some corrections here. We need to technically sort of improve in some of these areas, whether it's offensive line, defensive line, coverage, receiver.' Whatever it might be, and I think players probably were very receptive to that and the bye week was probably a very welcome time for them."