By most conventional measurements, Nick Saban is the greatest coach in college football history. Or, at the very least, he is among a handful of esteemed figures who could possibly claim such a vaunted honor.
Over 28 years as a college head coach, Saban had 292 wins — the sixth-most of all-time — won 80.6% of his games and led his teams to seven national championships. His seven titles are the most of any coach in college football history.
At Alabama, he reached the peak of his powers, returning the Crimson Tide from a mismanaged, distressed asset into an overpowering machine that dominated the sport in a way that few ever have over such a sustained period. In Saban’s 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa, Alabama went 206-29 while winning nine SEC championships and six national titles.
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Since retiring in January and joining ESPN as a college football analyst, the quality of Saban’s work gets measured slightly differently now.
Almost a full month into the 2024 college football season, Saban has offered informative film breakdowns and valuable insights into the state of the sport, but a good deal of the attention will invariably make its way to his record in picking games at the end of “College GameDay” every week. That will be particularly true in Week 5 of the 2024 college football season, when GameDay is in Tuscaloosa in advance of the No. 4 Tide’s game against No. 1 Georgia , a matchup pitting Saban’s longtime school against one of his former proteges in Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, a former Alabama defensive coordinator.
How has he done so far in that role? Here’s a look at Saban’s record in “College GameDay” picks so far this season:
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Nick Saban record on ‘College GameDay’
Thus far, Saban hasn’t been quite as good at picking games as he was at winning them.
Since Week 1 of the 2024 season, Saban has gone 22-18 with his picks on “College GameDay.”
After going 4-5 with picks in the first two weeks of the season, he has been better of late, going 9-3 in Week 3 and 5-5 in Week 4. The reason for that uptick may very well be because of his granddaughter, who Saban said told him to start picking the team he originally thought was going to lose.
Some of his incorrect calls have been understandable, either because he went with a sizable favorite, like going with Virginia Tech to beat Vanderbilt, or because of an emotional connection, like he did picking West Virginia, his home state school, to beat a top-10 Penn State team.
He’s 1-0 while picking Alabama games, as he went with the Tide to beat Wisconsin in a game Kalen DeBoer’s team went on to win 42-10.
Nick Saban record on ‘College Gameday’ vs other panelists
Among the group of five regular panelists on “College GameDay,” Saban is tied with Desmond Howard for the second-worst win percentage.
Lee Corso, less than two months removed from his 89th birthday, leads the group with a 27-13 record.
Here’s how the “College GameDay” panelists have fared with their picks this season:
- Lee Corso : 27-13
- Kirk Herbstreit : 23-12
- Nick Saban : 22-18
- Desmond Howard : 22-18
- Pat McAfee : 20-20
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What is Nick Saban's record picking games on ESPN's 'College GameDay'?
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