How Miss Terry outplayed Nick Saban on college game day before Alabama vs. Georgia

Alabama’s football win over Georgia was a consensus point for Nick Saban and his wife, Terry, on Saturday’s ESPN “College Gameday Picks” segment. Both chose the Crimson Tide before the exciting 41:34 victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

But the two had disagreements elsewhere on the shortlist. And when the dust settled on Saturday’s schedule, the Saban who made the most right decisions wasn’t the legendary former head coach.

Nick Saban picked six of the nine games correctly. The woman best known to avid Alabama fans as “Miss Terry” got seven of them right.

The former coach, who joined ESPN as an analyst after resigning in January, joked during the show that his job was to come out victorious.

“After 52 years, I know it’s going to cost me something if she wins,” Nick Saban said.

Both got off to a good start, picking Oklahoma to beat Auburn. The Tigers led most of the way, but Hugh Freeze’s group faded late and OU cruised to a 27-21 victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Miss Terry dropped a game and chose North Carolina over Duke, while her husband correctly chose the Blue Devils. However, they got the win back with Notre Dame’s win over Louisville while Nick Saban fell with the Cardinals.

Both missed Ole Miss, which fell to Kentucky, but correctly chose Penn State to beat Illinois and BYU over Baylor.

Their next point of contention was the Colorado-Central Florida game. Nick Saban went with the Knights while Terry played with Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes.

“Against our good friend Deion?” she said after her husband’s election. “Really? He texted you this week and said what a great job you did. I have your back, Deion.”

It turned out that was the right move. Colorado took the win in Orlando and Miss Terry finished one game ahead of Nick Saban in the standings.

She currently leads all collegiate game day visiting selectors this season with a win rate of 77.7%. That puts her just ahead of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, who hit nine out of 12 games, a mark of 75%.