Nick Saban doubles down on his thoughts about Tennessee-Alabama rivalry on College Gameday
The legendary coach explains why the Third Saturday in October has the meaning that it does for him.
The rivalry between the Tennessee Vols and the Alabama Crimson Tide is special and one of the biggest and best in all of college football. The Third Saturday in October might not be put up on the pedestal of Ohio State-Michigan, Auburn-Alabama, and Army-Navy, but in the mind of the greatest coach in college football history, Nick Saban, it’s as good as any.
Saban has emphasized before the importance of the rivalry. He said last year that Tennessee-Alabama was the game his players got up for the most, even more than the Iron Bowl.
He doubled down on that on Saturday during a College Gameday segment. He was asked to name the most underrated rivalry in college football, and he went with Tennessee-Alabama.
Nick Saban explains why he feels the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry is the most underrated in college football
“I actually think that, having been at Alabama, everybody always talks about the Iron Bowl,” Saban said. “But really, the big game for a lot of our fans and players was the Alabama-Tennessee game that is going to happen tonight. And it goes way back, and the reason for that was Coach Bear Bryant and General (Robert) Neyland were so successful that it was always a big game back in the late fifties and sixties, and it became a big thing. And then the trainers started smoking cigars naked when they won the game in 1961. So, it became a tradition to smoke cigars.
“So, I really do think one of the underrated rivalries is the Tennessee-Alabama game because people don’t realize how much it means internally.”
While the Iron Bowl has gotten the glitz and glamor in more recent years for the Crimson Tide on a national scale, I find it interesting to hear Saban say the Tennessee game apparently had greater meaning for the fans and players. Perhaps that has to do with the fact that it’s a cross-border rivalry as opposed to an intrastate one.
Alabama vs. Tennessee rivalry
- Series history: Alabama leads 60-40-7
- Latest matchup: Tennessee 24, Alabama 17 (10/19/24)
- Longest streak: Alabama – 15 (2007-2021)
- Last Tennessee win in Tuscaloosa: 2003 – Tennessee 51, Alabama 43 (5 OT)
But in any event, when you’ve got a rivalry that involves the trophy being effectively the thing that each coach, player, and fan smokes, that’s a pretty cool thing regardless of whether you smoke it or not.
As for Saban, he says he didn’t smoke the victory cigars; he chewed them when his Alabama teams won. Josh Heupel showed after the 2022 matchup that he’ll light it up. We’ll find out in a matter of hours whether Heupel will fire another one up or if Kalen DeBoer will do so for the first time.
Tennessee Volunteers News
Two opposing impressive stats between Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar and the Alabama defense will be put to the test on Saturday
The Vols’ starting QB has been an unstoppable force, while the Bama defense has been an immovable object along the same statistical path. One must give on Saturday.
