Nick Saban claims Tennessee-Alabama is a bigger rivalry than Alabama-Auburn

It's the Third Saturday in October, which means Tennessee and Alabama will meet on the gridiron for the 107th time in the rivalry's history. Alabama leads 59-39, with seven ties along the way, but Tennessee has been threatening Alabama's dominance in recent years. 

Although Tennessee has improved in the past few years, Alabama has won 16 of the last 17. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban has since retired and joined the ESPN College Gameday crew. This will be the first Third Saturday in October since 2006 Saban hasn't been on the sidelines leading the Tide, but he still acknowledged the importance of the rivalry on Saturday morning. 

Saban said Tennessee-Alabama is the biggest rivalry game the Tide play. He also said he has never struggled to get his guys excited for the Tennessee game, but he did struggle to get them going for the Iron Bowl.

"Third Saturday in October is like a holiday in [Tennessee and Alabama]," Saban said on College Gameday. "For our players, this was a bigger rivalry than any other game we played. I'm talking any rivalry game, even bigger than Auburn to our players. 

"It was always difficult for me to get our players up for the Auburn game. It was never difficult for the Tennessee game."

The Alabama-Auburn rivalry is closer than Tennessee-Alabama. Auburn has even been more competitive in Iron Bowl games over the past decade, but that could be because the in-state rivalry isn't as important for Alabama players as the Tennessee game. 

Expect to see players on both Alabama and Tennessee ready for the 107th meeting of the Third Saturday in October on Saturday afternoon as the rivalry enters a new era without Saban leading Alabama on the sideline. 

Tennessee and Alabama will kick off at 3:30 PM ET on ABC. Sean McDonough will be on the call covering play-by-play, Greg McElroy will join him in the booth, and Molly McGrath will be on the sidelines.