Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker used Nick Saban's own words to shade his former coach for predicting the Crimson Tide won't play in the SEC Championship Game this season.

Speaking to reporters at SEC media days, Booker addressed Saban's forecast for the 2024 campaign.

"He always used to say, 'Don't let some guy that lives in their mom's basement determine how you feel.' So I'm not gonna let some guy who plays golf all day determine how I feel," Booker said.

Now an analyst for ESPN, Saban appeared on Monday's episode of SEC Now and predicted Georgia will play Texas for the SEC title in December.

Saban did make sure to point out that Alabama is capable of getting to Atlanta if it can overcome some question marks in the secondary.

"I really like Texas," Saban said (h/t Kipp Adams of 247Sports). "I think Georgia's got a really good team, but I believe in our Alabama team, too. I believe in Jalen Milroe. I just think the question marks in the secondary... until those get resolved, it's hard to sort of jump on that bandwagon."

The Crimson Tide lost their top two cornerbacks from last season with Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft.

There would seem to be very little risk in predicting Georgia to reach the SEC title game. The Bulldogs have played for the conference title in each of the past three seasons and six times in the last seven years.

Texas is coming off an appearance in the College Football Playoff last year, but that was as a member of the Big 12. It will be interesting to see how much different the Longhorns fare against SEC competition for the entire season.

The Longhorns' conference schedule includes matchups with Oklahoma, Georgia and Texas A&M. They also have a non-conference road game against Michigan on Sept. 7.

It is refreshing to see Saban, who was not afraid to go after the media for making preseason predictions when he was coaching, have to be on the other side of things now that he is working as a television analyst.

Now going into his junior season, Booker clearly took some lessons from his former head coach about how to handle things when someone makes a prediction about his team that he doesn't agree with.