Nick Saban learned the hard way Saturday morning that Knoxville is not the place to reminisce about beating Tennessee. The former Alabama coach appeared on ESPN’s College GameDay ahead of the Volunteers’ showdown with top-ranked Texas, and when he brought up his 16-1 all-time record against the Vols, the crowd surrounding the set responded with a profane chant that went out over live television, according to Daily Wire’s account of the broadcast.
Making his picks on the show, Saban explained why he was siding with Tennessee — and promptly stepped on a rake.
“I’m all in on the University of Tennessee,” Saban said, “because we smoked 16 of 17 cigars when we played you all.”
The sea of orange responded with an unmistakable chant directed at Saban, loud enough to be picked up clearly on the broadcast. The moment quickly circulated on social media, including a clip shared by ESPN’s Pat McAfee with a laughing caption acknowledging how blunt the crowd had been.
McAfee, sitting on the set alongside Saban, initially tried to cover for the crowd when he heard the language come through. He joked that the fans were actually saying “Truck Nick Saban” — a reference to the day’s running bit in which fans were apparently substituting “Truck” for another word when chanting at ESPN personalities, including Arch Manning and Lane Kiffin earlier in the show.
Saban, for his part, took it in stride. The seven-time national champion smiled and told the crew, “You can’t take a joke.”
The one that got away
There is a reason Tennessee fans have held onto their frustration. Saban’s lone loss to the Volunteers came in 2022, when Tennessee kicked a last-second field goal to beat Alabama 52-49 at Neyland Stadium in one of the wildest games of the modern era. Fans stormed the field that night, tearing down the goalposts in a scene that has become defining imagery for the Heupel era in Knoxville. It is also, notably, the only blemish on an otherwise total Alabama ownership of the series during Saban’s tenure.
The morning only got stranger for Tide faithful. Saban was later captured on video appearing to sing along to “Rocky Top,” the Tennessee fight song, as McAfee filmed him. For a coach who spent 17 seasons tormenting the Vols, the image was jarring enough that it immediately became its own talking point online.
Heupel’s $100,000 arm
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, meanwhile, gave the home crowd something else to cheer about — and it came with a charitable price tag. When Heupel joined the GameDay set, McAfee challenged the former college quarterback to a $100,000 crossbar throw for charity: hit the crossbar from distance, and the money goes to a good cause.
Heupel needed one attempt. His 25-yard toss struck the crossbar dead center, and the sixth-year Tennessee coach casually removed his headset as if to signal the conversation was over. The clean strike was quickly clipped and shared by college football accounts, with observers noting he converted on his first try.
$1.5 million from a student’s leg
The charitable theme continued later in the show during McAfee’s “Kickin’ Is Easy” contest. Tennessee student Colby Lamb, selected to participate, nailed his second attempt to win $1.5 million, with $500,000 of that total designated for the Pat Summitt Foundation, the organization named for the late legendary Lady Vols coach.
Peyton Manning, the Vols’ most famous quarterback, was on hand to secure the kick attempt for Lamb. After the ball went through, Manning relayed a promise to the student that he would never pay for another Bud Light during his time in Knoxville and that every Tri Delt would want his phone number — a line that drew laughs from the GameDay crew.
Now Lamb has to figure out how to spend McAfee’s money, a problem most college students would happily take on.
A good omen for Rocky Top?
Whether any of it translates to the scoreboard remains to be seen. Tennessee was set to host top-ranked Texas later Saturday in the Battle of the UTs, a matchup with real College Football Playoff implications for the Volunteers.
But for one September morning in Knoxville, the storylines belonged to a retired coach who couldn’t resist reminding the crowd of his record, the crowd that reminded him right back, and a pair of kicks that turned into six-figure checks for charity. Saban has spent years being the villain in Knoxville. On Saturday, the Vols made sure he knew it.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/quick-hits-vols-rude-chant-for-nick-saban-josh-heupels-100k-throw-a-1-5m-kick