Nick Saban presented with LSU jersey by Mike the Tiger during ESPN's College GameDay

It was a homecoming for Nick Saban as ESPN’s College GameDay descended upon Baton Rouge with LSU hosting Alabama on Saturday.

Saban, who’s won seven national championships as a coach, won his only one with LSU back in 2003, which was his first as coach. As he pointed out, perhaps to appease the LSU fans, the first one is always the best.

Not only that, Saban was presented with an LSU jersey from Mike the Tiger, LSU’s mascot that said “Cest Bon” on the back.

A gift for Nick Saban pic.twitter.com/ZefKefcfZ4

— Koki Riley (@KokiRiley) November 9, 2024

The French flare on his name is quite clever don’t you think? Saban went 48-16 at LSU from 2000-04, winning the national title in 2003 and also an SEC title back in 2001.

Of course, following a short stint with the Miami Dolphins, Saban returned to college football in 2007 with Alabama. He went 201-29 overall and won six national titles. In his final season, Saban and Alabama won the SEC and lost in the Rose Bowl (CFP Semifinal) to eventual national champion Michigan.

Overall, Saban was 292-71-1 as a college head coach with Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and Alabama. Is the first title the sweetest? Well, it is according to Saban on this fine Saturday morning.

This year’s LSU-Alabama game could be a College Football Playoff elimination game, since both teams have two losses.

“Yeah, you know, I think, you know, each game that we play is a new game in itself. I think it goes to what I talked about, you know. We’re much more focused on playing four quarters of football, you know,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly at his press conference. “Our focus last week was, you know, cleaning up the things that we needed to take care of internally. So our focus, where our real work was was thinking about what we need to do better to play at a higher level.”

“Look, all that other stuff is out there but it doesn’t help us relative to what we need to do.”