The SEC football standings are a mess this season. LSU and Texas A&M are on top at the moment with no conference losses, and will face each other Saturday for the lead, while five teams have one league defeat.
On Friday, during his weekly appearance on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban was asked what he thought had contributed to the chaos in his old conference.
“There’s more parity in the SEC because I think players want to come to the SEC,” Saban said. “The system that we have now allows more players with more experience and proven quality to be able to come to the SEC. In other words, it doesn’t have to just be recruiting.”
Saban retired in January after 17 seasons and six national championships in Tuscaloosa. 2024 is the SEC’s first year without divisions, as it added Texas and Oklahoma.
To further illustrate his point, Saban referred to one of his ex-assistants, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.
“He’s actually used the portal to his benefit, to be able to have a top notch team,” Saban said. “Other teams use recruiting, like Georgia, you know, they still are going to recruit, Alabama is going to recruit. They’re going to use the portal some, but not as much. So that helps some of the teams that weren’t quite as good get better quickly, so that they can compete with those top level teams.”
The interview with McAfee was taking place on campus at Indiana, where ESPN’s College Gameday is located this week. The Hoosiers are undefeated, one of the best starts in the history of what is traditionally a woebegone program in the Big Ten.
Iowa State is also undefeated at current time, along with other non-traditional powers BYU, Pitt, Army and Navy. According to Saban, it’s a sign of the times.
“Right now it’s about money,” Saban said. “There’s a lot of things that just come down money. Where players go to school comes down to money. So if you have a collective and you have money, you’re going to have an opportunity to be successful. You’re gonna be able to retain the players on your team that you want to retain, almost like a pro team. And you’re also going to be able to get free agents to come into your program, and you’re also going to be able to recruit better high school players because you got financial opportunities for them as well.
“So I do think that’s a piece. That’s something that everybody’s had to adapt to in the last four or five years. That was never a circumstance in college athletics before, it was all about having a program, helping guys develop personally, academically, athletically, but now there’s sort of a new sheriff in town when it comes to this money thing, and everybody’s got to pay attention to it. But I do think it allows everybody the opportunity to be successful if you have the resources.”
