Nick Saban gives LSU bulletin-board material he can’t protect Alabama from now

Nick Saban has been a welcome addition to ESPN's College Gameday crew this season, but his presence does create the occasional awkwardness. Saban is no longer pacing the sidelines for Alabama, but he still has an office in the team's facility, and by all accounts he's still very much involved with how the program operates. So things were bound to get a little uncomfortable with Gameday covering an Alabama game this weekend, especially considering the Tide's opponent: LSU, the team Saban coached before bolting for the NFL (and eventually finding his way to Tuscaloosa).

Even given all the potential conflicts of interest involved, Saban probably could've done a better job making life easier for his successor, Kalen DeBoer. He probably didn't mean to give the Tigers any bulletin-board material ahead of Saturday night's showdown, but he did it all the same — and now DeBoer is the one who's going to have to clean up the mess.

Nick Saban throws a little shade at LSU ahead of matchup with Alabama

While in town preparing for Gameday this week, Saban paid a visit to Kim Mulkey's LSU women's basketball team. He gave what was a pretty standard pep talk, save for one little detail: Saban mentioned that he still roots for the Tigers ... except, of course, when they play Alabama.

"I appreciate having the opportunity, and I'm going to watch how you guys do," Saban said in a video shared by the team on X. "Because I still root for LSU, all the time. Except when they play Alabama."

An ultimately minor slight? Sure. Something that LSU fans will use to fuel its now decades-long grievance against their former coach? You bet. And not that the Tigers needed any more motivation with the Tide coming to town in what is functionally a College Football Playoff elimination game, but this certainly won't help matters. And it'll give DeBoer one more thing to answer for in a season that's already become full of outside noise.

Ironically enough, this is exactly the sort of distraction that Saban would've loathed having to deal with as a coach. But hey, retirement does funny things to us all.