Nick Saban: Smart, Sarkisian Are 'Bulls--tting Us' About Georgia, Texas Gameplans

Nick Saban knows a thing or two about saying a lot of words without really saying anything, so it wasn't a surprise to hear him call out Kirby Smart and Steve Sarkisian for hiding their gameplans ahead of the SEC Championship Game.

After both coaches gave very vague answers on ESPN's College Gameday in response to Rece Davis' question about their approach to planning for a rematch with a team they played earlier in the season, Saban joked that Smart and Sarkisian were "bulls--tting us" about what's in store for the Georgia-Texas matchup.

Saban could see through what Smart and Sarkisian were saying because they probably learned it from him. He did explain why they were "bulls--tting" because he praised them for being "the best I've ever been around at getting a team ready to play in a big game."

Smart worked as an assistant for 10 seasons with Saban dating back to 2004 when he was a defensive backs coach at LSU. The pair were reunited in 2007 at Alabama, where Smart remained for nine seasons before being hired by Georgia in December 2015.

Sarkisian had two different stints at Alabama. He first joined Saban's staff in 2016 as an offensive assistant and interim offensive coordinator.

After two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons as their offensive coordinator, Sarkisian returned to Alabama in 2020 as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He parlayed his success in that role into being named head coach at Texas in January 2021.

Understandably, neither Smart nor Sarkisian want to give anything away right now. There is a lot at stake for the winner of this game. In the current College Football Playoff rankings, Texas is at No. 2 and Georgia is at No. 5.

The winner, in addition to winning the SEC title, will almost certainly get a first-round bye when the final College Football Playoff field is announced on Sunday.

These two teams met in the regular season on Oct. 19 in Austin. Georgia pushed Texas around in that game en route to a 30-15 victory. The Longhorns were held to 29 rushing yards on 27 carries.

Texas will look to get revenge against Georgia when the SEC Championship Game kicks off at 4 p.m. ET from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.