DALLAS — College football season is back, and things are looking very different.
In 2024, three schools in Texas alone — UT, SMU, and Stephen F. Austin — changed conferences. Outside of conference shake-ups, an expanded playoff bracket will make the National Championship more attainable than it has ever been.
WFAA sat down with one of the greatest football coaches in NCAA history: Nick Saban. He's a coach that needs no introduction; his seven national titles with Alabama and LSU speak for themselves. But this season is uncharted territory, even for Saban. Here's what he thinks it will look like.
Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC
"I think the biggest challenge is going to be the level of consistency you have to play with in the SEC," Saban said.
For years, Texas and Oklahoma have dominated the Big 12. Texas held a 331-147 record against Big 12 opponents in their conference tenure, and Oklahoma put up a solid 366-141 record. That kind of dominance will not come as easy in the SEC.
"The depth of the league, the quality of the league, you have more difficult games," Saban noted. "So you have to be able to play back-to-back at a high level. You just don't have two or three games in a year that are big games that you have to get up for."
High-pressure stadium settings
Another notable difference between the two conferences is the atmosphere. In 2023, the average attendance at a Big 12 football game was 55,287. For the SEC, it was 77,163.
"I don't think there's anything like it. I mean, the passion in the SEC is second to none," Saban said. "I mean, I coached in the NFL for eight years, and there were some tough places to play, but nothing like when you go to LSU. Nothing like when you go to Tennessee. Nothing like when you go to A&M and play, you have over 100,000 people. Alabama's a tough place to play too."
In those high-pressure games, players have to face the pressure with a cool head.
"I think having a little more maturity on your team, especially at the quarterback position certainly helps you manage your way through that kind of environment," Saban added.
Schedule strength
Texas has some stiff competition early in their schedule, facing Big 10 powerhouse No. 9-ranked Michigan on the road in their second game of the season. But Saban said those tough early games can help build a team into a real contender.
"I always like playing a neutral site, really difficult opponent early on, like we played home and home with Texas, we beat them there, they beat us at our place, but those kind of games early on really help your off-season development of your team because your players are really looking forward to playing someone like that," Saban said. "And with the new 12-team playoff losing a game early is not going to really kill you."
Rivalries revived
Conference realignment tore apart some rivalries, but it brought some back from the dead. Texas now reunites with old Southwest Conference rivals Texas A&M and Arkansas.
"I think it'll be a great environment. I mean, I kind of know how these people feel about each other, and they all love their school and they've got a lot of pride," Saban said. "So I don't think it'll skip a beat."
Trimming the roster
This season, following federal anti-trust lawsuits, many conferences, including the SEC, are looking to reduce roster sizes, so WFAA asked Saban what impact losing 20 to 30 players would have on a program.
"These are young players who need to develop. That's what you need in college and I think 105 is probably the minimum number that you can have to operate," Saban said. "Now, if you go below that, you're gonna affect the quality of how people are able to prepare for games with the limited time frame that you have to work with your players."
Paying student-athletes
WFAA also asked Saban about the prospect of paying players as student employees of universities.
"You should know when you're playing against somebody that they're playing on the same set of rules as you are, which we don't really have that in college football right now," Saban said. "And the second thing is, is we gotta have a system that allows people to continue to put the emphasis on getting an education and preparing themselves for when they can't play football."
Saban says the current use of the transfer portal to get paid more elsewhere could be damaging to an athlete's academic career.
"Now, when people transfer and move and move and move to make more money while they're playing in college, they're not enhancing their chances of graduating," Saban said. "So they might make a little more money now, but how they're gonna be successful when they're 29 or 30 years old."
View WFAA's full interview with Nick Saban below: