ESPN’s College GameDay crew is sure to spend some time breaking down this weekend’s SEC clash between Tennessee and Oklahoma on the Saturday morning show, but championship-winning coach Nick Saban got his thoughts out early on Friday while making an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
“I really like Tennessee in this game,” Saban said during the interview. “They’ve got one of the leading offensive teams in the country when it comes to scoring points, they’re difficult to defend, they’ve got a good offensive line, they can run the ball. Oklahoma’s got a great defense, one of the best in the country, but I think when you spread them out like this, it’s going to be more difficult for them. Especially playing on the road.”
We’ll have to wait until late Saturday morning to see Saban’s official pick for the game, but it looks like he’s trending toward the Volunteers. That being said, though, he still laid out the road map for Oklahoma pulling off the upset, which starts and ends with quarterback John Mateer.
“To me, the issue for Oklahoma is, are they going to be able to score enough points in this game? Because they’ve been struggling on offense a little bit since John Mateer came back from breaking his hand,” Saban said. “Which is, you know, it’s understandable. The guy’s playing hurt, playing quarterback, it’s harder to spin it. But if he plays well, they’ll have a chance. But I just think Tennessee is going to be hard to beat relative to the points that they score. But Tennessee’s struggled on defense, too, so they’re going to have to outscore them.”
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McAfee followed up by saying that while we’ve seen the “greatness” of Tennessee at times, it’s not a perfect team.
The betting line has been slightly dropping in Oklahoma’s favor throughout the week, but the Vols are still a point betting favorite heading into Saturday’s game. ESPN Analytics gives Tennessee a 63% chance to find the win at home.
No. 14 Tennessee will host No. 18 Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night in Neyland Stadium.
Check out Nick Saban’s full clip on Friday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show below:
“I really like this Tennessee team..
They’re gonna be hard to beat especially at home”
Coach Saban #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/JJxwriG2Za
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 31, 2025
