Lane Kiffin reveals his pick to win Alabama vs. Georgia game

No. 4 Alabama is set to host No. 2 Georgia in a matchup of titans, one that has frequently been a postseason fixture in recent years.

This year’s matchup won’t have quite the same stakes, as an expanded playoff field that allows for 12 teams to make the postseason blunts the impact of any one result. Still, it’s a game both teams will want to win.

And everyone around the conference will be watching. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin joined ESPN College GameDay on Saturday, where he was asked to pick a winner. He obliged.

“Oooh. Shoot, what’s Georgia, Kirby (Smart) got a 40-game win streak, regular season?” Kiffin asked. “But you know, that’s Alabama and they’re playing on Nick Saban Field tonight, so I’ve got to go Roll Tide!”

Kiffin, who spent time on staff with Nick Saban at Alabama, was deferential to the long-time coach and his thoughts on the program as it gets used to a new coach in Kalen DeBoer. And one thing both have made clear is that the transition has been silky smooth.

“Well I don’t think Kalen needs any advice from me,” Kiffin said. “He’s done a great job wherever he’s been. That’s going to be an unbelievable environment tonight. I’m sure it is already there. And for two of the best programs in America to be playing, should be really exciting for you guys.”

Kalen DeBoer talks Alabama transition

Kalen DeBoer recently opened up on his transition to Alabama on College GameDay, providing a little insight into the exact moments when the transition felt most real … and perhaps most tenuous.

But Saban helped put him at ease.

“I think it was probably the morning of everything happening, and I just think that that conversation that I had with coach, just feeling, you know, just feeling how he felt about things,” DeBoer said. “Knowing that I kind of had a kind of peace in my heart, that the transition would be smooth and that I’d have the grace from him to be able to go and be able to take over and and still be able to embrace everything that he’s done for this program.”

The former Washington coach revealed just how nervous he felt coming into that first team meeting, even knowing he had Saban’s blessing.

“I knew that coming in that Friday night, meeting with those guys, I knew it’d be dead quiet, them having a lot of questions,” DeBoer said. “There (were) a lot of emotions and things that they were going through, and it was just to try to meet them where they were at the time, you know, and just really try to again, and use the word embrace a lot, but that’s really what it was all about.”

Alabama has embraced DeBoer quite well so far, off to a 3-0 start and itching for tonight’s contest against Georgia.

The game will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET with a broadcast on ABC.