Nick Saban Says Missouri Has "Easiest Path" to SEC Championship Game

The legendary coach bemoaned the unbalanced scheduling in the SEC this season.

Oct 7, 2023; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz gestures against the LSU Tigers during the second half at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports / Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The college football season kicks off in Dublin on Saturday as Florida State takes on Georgia Tech. ESPN's College GameDay made the trek across the pond to celebrate the season starting in a unique environment. The premiere college pregame television show welcomes legendary coach Nick Saban to the set this season to provide expertise and analysis in the wake of his retirement and it didn't take long before he made headlines.

The panel opened the segment talking about the Alabama Crimson Tide and Kalen DeBoer's task to replace the seven-time national championship winning coach, but Saban was quick to steer the conversation into a discussion on the imbalance of the SEC's schedule.

"If you look at everybody's schedule Missouri has the easiest path to get in the championship game. Georgia has one of the toughest paths to get in the championship game. They've got to go to Ole Miss, they've got to go to Texas, they've got to go to Alabama," said Saban. "So it's not all equal in the way these schedules are kind of set up as hard as people tried to make them that way, which is difficult with all the change. So, that's going to have something to say about who gets in the championship game. And then is it going to be an advantage to get into the SEC Championship game or a disadvantage? We talked about that before too. I see six or seven teams that have a chance to win this, but somebody has to prove they can beat Georgia."

Easy in the SEC is subjective. Missouri has road trips to Texas A&M and Alabama and welcomes rival Oklahoma into Faurot Field, but the remaining five games are all against teams that struggled last season.