Nick Saban Drops Candid Admission on Steve Sarkisian's Texas Offense at SEC Media Days

Former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban is the headliner of "talking season" at SEC Media Days. He's provided valuable insight into several teams.

On Tuesday, Saban discussed his former assistant Steve Sarkisian and how difficult it is to defend against Sarkisian's Texas offense. He said the following on the SEC Network of facing his protege.

"I kind of always hated playing against Sark. I mean, in practice for several years as well as when we played him the last couple years."

Saban reasons that Sarkisian's offense places defensive backs in compromised positions. As a result, opposing secondaries can struggle in run defense as well as coverage.

The Alabama coach laughingly suggested the Georgia Bulldogs and head coach Kirby Smart could have similar problems against the Texas Longhorns ' offensive attack.

"I always hated playing against Texas, and Kirby's got some of the same issues that we had."

Saban's defense didn't have many answers for Sarkisian's offense when the teams played in 2023. The game saw Alabama defenders struggling in coverage.

Texas' passing offense put up 349 yards through the air with four different Longhorns recording a reception of more than 30 yards in the game last year.

Whether or not the Texas offense can have consistent success against SEC teams is still to be seen. The Longhorns will play their first conference matchup against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sept. 28.

Related: Nick Saban Predicts Conference Title Game Matchup at SEC Media Days