Former Alabama HC Nick Saban doesn't hold back when discussing why he hated playing against Steve Sarkisian

Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban had a lot of things to say about the Texas Longhorns during his appearance at SEC Media Days. The Longhorns were a big topic of conversation on the first day, as the program makes its debut in the SEC this year.

Speaking to SEC Network on Tuesday morning, Saban spoke about his hatred of playing against Steve Sarkisian's program.

"I kind of always hated playing against Sark. In practice for several years, as well as when we played them the past couple years. Because they do such a good job with what I call squeeze-splits. We play in this day and age where people take this huge splits like Tennessee - which, that's a problem, too - but players are not used to - especially DBs - are not used to playing when you have squeeze splits.

"Because you put them in unfamiliar positions, whether it's run support or how they cover. When you're in squeeze splits, how can this guy get to that side of the field quickly, which messes up your pattern matches. So, I always hated playing against Texas."

Saban and his Alabama team faced the Longhorns during Week 2 of both the 2022 and 2023 seasons. These were both hard-fought games, in which the sides won one each of this "series."

However, while the Crimson Tide were able to go into Austin and defeat the Longhorns, they did this with a last-second field goal from Kicker Will Reichard.

In contrast to this, when Sarkisian and his Texas team won in Tuscaloosa in 2023, the victory was far more convincing (10 points). He was able to show college football that Steve Sarkisian and mostly quarterback Quinn Ewers should be taken as serious national championship contenders.

Texas and Alabama won't be facing each other this season. But unlike the last time these teams met, the next time it will happen will be as conference rivals. It's something that, if he was still coaching, could strike fear into Nick Saban.

Nick Saban says that Texas will not "run the SEC"

Alongside talking about how he was not a fan of facing Sarkisian and Texas, Saban give his prediction for which programs are likely to challenge for the SEC title this year.

To the surprise of many, Saban predicted that it would be the Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas Longhorns who would be battling it out in Atlanta for the conference title.

However, while praising Texas by saying that they would be successful, Saban said that things will not be going all their way.

"You know what kinda tickles me is all these people asking these questions about how Texas always ran the conference they were in. They're not gonna run the SEC ... Forget all about that."

Many analysts and fans have high hopes for this year's Longhorns team. They have one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football in Quinn Ewers, and he is surrounded by a strong set of receivers. Additionally, Steve Sarkisian has been able to create a highly efficient defense.

They have entered the SEC at the perfect time to make every top program fear them.