Coaching legend’s first College GameDay pick involves UNC game

College football fans across the country can now celebrate, because the season is finally upon us.

Florida State and Georgia Tech officially kicked off the season earlier Saturday, playing in Dublin, Ireland as part of the Aer Lingus Classic. With this being Week Zero’s marquee matchup, the College GameDay crew traveled across the pond.

Who would’ve guessed our North Carolina Tar Heels , who don’t take the field until Thursday, Aug. 29 at the Minnesota Golden Gophers, were one of the first teams mentioned on GameDay?

UNC’s mention came from the GameDay crew’s Week 1 picks. There’s one new crew member you might recognize: longtime Alabama coach Nick Saban.

If you haven’t guessed the correlation between Saban and North Carolina by now, Saban made North Carolina his first-ever GameDay pick.

This is a pretty major kudos coming from the best to ever coach college football.

The Tar Heels will be playing Minnesota for a second consecutive season. Last year, UNC won 31-13 behind a 400-yard passing game from Drake Maye.

Saban was a college football head coach for 27 years, starting at Toledo then making stops at Michigan State , LSU and – most famously – Alabama. Surprisingly, Saban never coached against the Tar Heels .

Regardless of how UNC plays in 2024 , it’s nice knowing the greatest coach in college football picked them to win an expectedly tough road game.

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