Nick Saban is already helping Alabama even if he’s no longer coaching

If you take one lesson from Nick Saban's tremendously successful time as the head coach at Alabama, it should be this: don't take the rat poison.

Saban used to get made fun of for how fixated he was on that proverbial toxin, but he knew what he was doing. Having unparalleled success year after year may sound easy when you can get all the best recruits. In reality, the ability to keep college kids focused on becoming as great as they can be and ignoring all the outside noise telling them how great they are is not so simple.

As the leader of college football's premier program, Saban knew that the X's and O's were important, but even more important was his ability to motivate his kids. There have been many great teams in recent college football history. Some even won championships. But very few were able to climb the mountain for a second time, let alone the six times that Saban led Alabama to a year-end No. 1 ranking.

Saban has a strong claim to be called the greatest college football coach of all time. He's no longer roaming the sidelines of Bryant-Denny Stadium (though the university did recently pass a resolution to name the field after him), but he can still help his former team, and he did so recently when he made his pick for the SEC Championship Game.

Saban, who now works as an analyst for ESPN (and is really good at it, by the way), didn't include the Crimson Tide in his prediction, instead choosing a matchup between Georgia and Texas. It's not a particularly surprising pick on paper, as both the Bulldogs and Longhorns are widely expected to be top contenders for the national title this year, but many people have taken notice that Saban seemed to snub his old team.

Nick Saban is helping Alabama avoid the rat poison even though he's no longer the coach

Saban has straddled the line of being thoughtful and eloquent as an analyst, while still being honest and unbiased in his views. I'm sure he picked Georgia and Texas because he honestly believes those two teams will be left standing when the dust of the SEC season settles.

Whether Saban had an ulterior motive of lighting a fire under his former players at the perceived slight is inconsequential, but new head coach Kalen DeBoer is certainly grateful for the prediction anyway.

The Crimson Tide are still expected to be among the best teams in college football, but with a new head coach and an even more treacherous SEC now that Texas and Oklahoma have officially become members, there's more uncertainty about Alabama's standing than there has been since the early days of Saban's tenure.

Even after an SEC Championship and College Football Playoff appearance last season, Jalen Milroe and company probably don't need to be told to avoid the rat poison this time around. Just in case, though, their old coach isn't going to tempt them with it.