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Alabama and Auburn have a long history and rivalry that most view as one of the biggest rivalries in college football. However, Nick Saban, whose net worth is $80 million per Celebrity Net Worth, does not think Auburn is Alabama's biggest rival. Instead, he thinks the Crimson Tide's bigger rivalry game is against the Tennessee Volunteers.
Nick Saban is undoubtedly a qualified voice for his opinion on this matter. He was the head coach of the Crimson Tide from 2007 to 2023. Speaking on ESPN's College GameDay on Saturday, he said this about the Crimson Tide's rivals:
"For our players, this was a bigger rivalry than any other game that we played," Saban said. "I'm talking about rivalry games, even bigger than Auburn, to our players. it was always difficult for me to get our players up for the Auburn game. It was never difficult for the Tennessee game."
"This is a big rivalry and a lot of people around the country don't realize to the old-time Alabhama folks and Tennessee folks, this rivalry was born because of coach Bryant and coach Neyland. Both great coaches, and both have stadiums named after them," he added.
"There's a lot of tradition: The Third Saturday in October is a holiday on those two states. The cigar tradition of winning this game afterward is a fun thing."
Alabama and Tennessee compete for the 107th time on Saturday
The Alabama vs Tennessee matchup on Saturday marks the 107th time these two schools have clashed in football. The Crimson Tide have dominated the matchup throughout its history, including most of the 21st century. Tennessee has not won back-to-back games since before Nick Saban became Alabama's head coach in 2007.
During Saban's tenure as head coach from 2007 to 2023, the Crimson Tide accumulated a 16-1 record against the Volunteers. Tennessee's only win in that stretch came in 2022 when the number six-ranked Volunteers upset the number three-ranked Crimson Tide 42-49. Overall, the Crimson Tide have a 60-38-8 record against Tennessee.
For most of those 17 years, Bama was a top-five team and ranked number one several times. Conversely, Tennessee was only ranked in the top 20 four times (2007, 2016, 2022, and 2023).
This year's matchup marks the third successive year in a row that both teams are ranked in the AP Top 25. Alabama (5-1) enters the game ranked seventh in the nation, and Tennessee (5-1) enters ranked 11th.
