As he typically does, Nick Saban sported a slick suit and joined the Pat McAfee Show Friday afternoon live from Saturday’s College GameDay location, Heinz Field. Of course, the crew is in town for the Pittsburgh home game vs. Notre Dame, but while previewing the weekend ahead in college football, Nick Saban pinpointed his top tier of contenders in the sport.
As a list of the top contenders in college football flashed up onto the screen, with their occompanying odds to win the national championship, Saban commented that he sees a vetted upper level of teams so far this season. Unsurprisingly, he selected the three remaining undefeated power conference programs in college football.
“I think there’s three teams that have kinda proven they’re a cut above,” said Saban. “A&M, Ohio State and Indiana.” Given their unblemished records and the missteps of seemingly every other team in the country, this triumvirate deserves utmost respect, but that doesn’t mean these squads are invincible.
“Those three teams have kind of shown they’re a cut above the other teams,” added Saban. “The other teams are good enough to beat them, but they all have a little flaw or something that they need to overcome. So, it will be interesting to see how that works out down the stretch here.”
McAfee’s producers had flashed a graphic up on the screen showing one incredible Ohio State statistic — that they haven’t trailed in the second half of any of their nine straight victories to open the season. Not a single second. Which is why Nick Saban is particularly impressed with their dominance.
Ohio State Buckeyes running back Isaiah West (32) / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
“Well, they’ve been dominant,” he said of the Buckeyes. “But I mean, they’re only giving up like seven points a game defensively, and they score a whole bunch of points, they got good receivers, a quarterback that’s played well. They don’t run the ball great, if they have a flaw.”
According to another graphic from the McAfee Show which provided the list of favorites to win the College Football Playoff, Ohio State unsurprisingly topped the list at +185, a fair bit higher than No. 2 Indiana at +450. Saban’s third team believed to be a cut above, Texas A&M, narrowly fell in at third with +750 odds, just ahead of Saban’s old school, Alabama, who sat at +850.
Those odds came from ESPN Bet, according to the graphic, and it looks like the betting markets and Nick Saban are similarly aligned when it comes to the top group of clubs competing for gold.
