Nick Saban doesn’t toss out praise just to hear himself talk, so when he names a pair of teams as college football’s best in July, people tend to listen.
On Thursday morning on ESPN’s Get Up, the former Alabama coach pointed to Georgia and Texas as the two teams he thinks sit at the top of the sport right now. It’s a familiar kind of Saban answer: bold enough to matter, cautious enough to leave himself room when the season starts throwing punches.
“Well, I think Texas and Georgia on paper, at least right now. But in July, nobody really knows what might happen in the season,” Saban said.
He followed that by reminding viewers that even elite teams can unravel in a hurry.
“One of our best teams was in 2019, when Tua broke his hip the 10th or 11th game of the season. We didn't even get in the playoffs, but that was one of the best teams we ever had.
"So you really don't know what's going to happen during the season and how you're going to be able to overcome those obstacles that you might have to overcome. I think right now on paper, those two teams are the best teams based on what they have coming back and what they've added to their roster."
The 2019 Alabama example says plenty. Saban is making his case, but he’s also warning everyone not to treat a July ranking like a finished product.
He made a similar call in 2024, picking Georgia and Texas to meet in the SEC Championship Game. That one came true in December, when Georgia beat Texas in overtime.
Texas enters 2025 as the consensus preseason No. 1, but the Longhorns’ path last season showed how quickly the shine can wear off. They lost to Ohio State, Florida and Georgia, then finished 10-3 after beating Michigan in the Citrus Bowl and missing the College Football Playoff.
Arch Manning is back for his junior season after throwing for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2025 while completing 61.3 percent of his passes. He finished 17th in ESPN’s QBR and 14th in PFF’s grading. The year had its rough patches, including uneven showings against UTEP and Kentucky, but something clicked in November, when the New Orleans native started looking like the player people had been waiting to see.
Texas also has more help around him this time. Three offensive line starters return, including left tackle Trevor Goosby, and the Longhorns added multi-year starters Melvin Siani at tackle and Laurence Seymore at guard. The portal brought in wide receiver Cam Coleman, linebacker Rasheem Biles and running backs Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers.
Defensively, Colin Simmons is the headliner. He led Texas with 12 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss in 2025. New defensive coordinator Will Muschamp is expected to lean into an aggressive, man-coverage-heavy approach, and the biggest question is whether the cornerbacks can survive on islands.
Georgia has its own questions, even after winning its second straight SEC championship last season before falling to Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal. Gunner Stockton is back after starting all 14 games, throwing for 2,894 yards and 24 touchdowns while adding 462 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. He also earned SEC Championship Game MVP honors.
The Bulldogs, though, have to replace a lot of production at receiver. Six of their top seven pass-catchers from last season are gone, leaving only London Humphreys back at wideout and raising the pressure on tight end Luckie Lawson.
Georgia added Isiah Canion from Georgia Tech, Amaris Williams from Auburn and Braylon Conley from USC through the portal. The Bulldogs brought in just eight transfers, the fewest in the SEC, though they ranked sixth by average player rating.
There’s work to do on defense as well. Georgia finished 122nd nationally in tackles for loss last season and had trouble getting consistent pressure on the quarterback, a problem for a program that has usually made life miserable for offenses under Kirby Smart. They need that edge back.
Still, the roster isn’t short on talent. Safety KJ Bolden and cornerback Ellis Robinson IV give the Bulldogs plenty of star power, and the front has to improve with better play at the point of attack. Georgia will also be looking for more from defensive tackle Elijah Griffin.
Georgia and Texas don’t meet in the regular season, so if Saban’s top-two pairing is going to happen again, it has to come in Atlanta or in the playoff. That’s probably exactly the kind of stage he had in mind.
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