Nick Saban, SEC analysts make predictions for 2024 SEC Championship
While he was the head coach at Alabama, Nick Saban wanted to keep his focus on the task at hand. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself, which meant discussing whatever was ahead the coming week and avoiding looking farther down the schedule.
But in his new role as an ESPN analyst, Saban can break that rule. He did just that Monday morning at SEC Media Days when he, along with Greg McElroy and Benjamin Watson, picked who would be in the conference championship.
Saban predicted Texas would take on Georgia in the title game. McElroy also chose the Longhorns, but said they’d go against Alabama. As for Watson, he went with UGA against Ole Miss in the league championship.
While Saban pointed out the changes Ole Miss made this year – particularly in the transfer portal – he thinks Texas has the fire power on offense to help with some key defensive losses. Plus, the Longhorns have quarterback depth with Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning in tow, and that could be instrumental in a run to the SEC Championship.
“I think this is the first time Ole Miss could really match up up front,” Nick Saban said. “That’s always been their issue. They’ll win 11 games, they’d lose to Georgia, they’d lose to us because they can’t match up up front. They can this year. They’re gonna look more like an SEC team. But I think Texas, if their defense comes through and they can replace some of the interior people they lost that were high draft picks and all that, they’re really good offensively. And even though their quarterback has missed time – Ewers has missed time the last couple years – Manning was lights-out in the spring game. Like, Arch was like, 21 for 25 for 347 yards.
“That depth at quarterback is probably really important for them because Ewers has missed time the last couple years, a game or two, which could really affect where you end up. So I really like Texas. I think Georgia’s got a really good team, but I believe in our Alabama team, too – I believe in Jalen Milroe. I just think the question marks in the secondary, until those get resolved, it’s hard to sort of jump on that bandwagon.”
As for McElroy, the reason he picked against Georgia was due to the schedule. The Bulldogs have three huge road games looming, and they could help determine the race for the SEC Championship.
“A lot of people are kind of overlooking Georgia’s schedule,” McElroy said. “They have three road games – to Texas, to Alabama and to Ole Miss. And I know that it was a lot to a little when they played Ole Miss last year.
“But I just look at that schedule, man, and possibility of losing one, then you lose the head-to-head and basically, that game’s worth a game-and-a-half relative to getting in the conference title game. That, I think, could be a challenge, and I just think we need to pay a little more attention to how difficult that schedule is. So I’m going with Texas and I’m going with Bama.”
Watson, however, went a different route. He argued the Bulldogs have the consistency on offense with Carson Beck still at quarterback under Mike Bobo that they can make it back to Atlanta. However, he also gave Ole Miss its flowers for overhauling the roster.
“I’m gonna take Georgia, while also understanding how tough their schedule’s gonna be,” Watson said. “I agree with you there. It’s gonna be a gauntlet for them to go on the road to these top programs. If they can survive it – I think they can – but you look at Georgia’s program, I think Carson Beck, the continuity with him and Coach Bobo is key offensively. And then defensively, while they may not have … some of the guys up front, I think their secondary is one of the best in the country. And I like Ole Miss.
“This is now or never for Ole Miss. And you remember that game against Georgia last year, Lane Kiffin talked about becoming the team that could beat Georgia. He goes out in the transfer portal, he gets a great EDGE rusher who had seven sacks last year at the University of Florida, he goes and gets Walter Nolen, a defensive lineman from Texas A&M. I think offensively and defensively, Ole Miss is put together in a way that can challenge a whole lot of teams.”