Nick Saban reveals shocking insight on Iron Bowl, Third Saturday in October rivalries

The knowledge that former Alabama coach Nick Saban has shared since he joined ESPN’s College GameDay has been immense, and on Saturday he might have shared the most shocking insight yet.

The new ESPN personality was opening up on rivalries in the sport and centered on Alabama-Tennessee.

“For our players, this was a bigger rivalry than any other game that we played,” Nick Saban said. “I’m talking about rivalry game. Even bigger than Auburn to our players.”

That immediately made a few people on the set sit up a little straighter, as the Iron Bowl is typically regarded as one of the best rivalries in all of sports, not just college football.

Naturally, there was a follow-up question for Saban. Really?

“It was always difficult for me to get our players up for the Auburn game,” Nick Saban said. “It was never difficult for the Tennessee game.”

The two teams will meet again on Saturday in what might as well be a College Football Playoff elimination game of sorts. Both teams come in already sporting one loss on the season.

While a second loss won’t be a death sentence, per se, it would set either team back far enough that making the playoff would then seem like a real long shot.

Saban continued to discuss the origins of the rivalry and some of the things that make it so unique.

“Well this is a big rivalry, and I think that a lot of people in the country don’t realize that to the old-time Alabama folks and Tennessee folks, this rivalry was born because of coach Bryant and coach Neyland. And they’re great coaches and they both have stadiums named after them,” Nick Saban said.

“And there’s a lot of tradition. Third Saturday in October is like a holiday in those two states. And the cigar tradition of winning this game afterwards is a fun thing.”

Alabama and Tennessee will kick off today at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.