Nick Saban may be retired, but the former Alabama head coach didn't hesitate to throw some shade at a former conference opponent. During an appearance on

Brent Venables and company have their work cut out for them in preparing to stop star quarterback Nico Iamaleava and one of the top offenses in the sport, at least through three games. The former five-star and first-year starter has helped the Vols outscore opponents 191-13 thus far. Iamaleava seems to have bolstered Heupel's up-tempo attack.

As Nick Saban looks at the state of SEC football, he sees Vanderbilt football as a major outlier for one main reason.

“The only place you play in the SEC that’s not hard to play is Vanderbilt,” Saban said. “At Vanderbilt, you have more fans there than they have. And that’s no disrespect to them, it’s just the truth. When we played in Nashville, we had more fans, Alabama fans, than they had Vanderbilt fans.”

Legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban saw it all while he patrolled the sidelines. That included a few trips to Nashville to face the Vanderbilt Commodores. While Saban retired earlier this year, the former Crimson Tide head coach does not appear to have done a complete about-face on Vandy.