LSU hosts Alabama in a high stakes college football match-up on Saturday night.
There are few better scenes in sports than Tiger Stadium under the lights, and this weekend’s battle sees two SEC foes hoping to keep their College Football Playoff chances alive.
Unsurprisingly, ESPN’s College GameDay was live from Death Valley ahead of the ranked match-up, in what was the show’s 14th visit to Baton Rouge.
Host Rece Davis was joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and legendary Alabama and LSU head coach Nick Saban.
And to close out the show, this week’s celebrity guest pickers were a pair of LSU legends – Livvy Dunne and Paul Skenes.
The National Champion power couple returned to campus to huge fanfare, given their success with the school.
Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher and 2024 All-Star Game starter for the National League, was part of LSU’s 2023 Men’s College World Series National Championship team.
Dunne, meanwhile, is a current member of LSU’s gymnastics team and was part of the 2023 NCAA National Championship squad.
It came as no surprise that when making their picks for the LSU vs Alabama match, both were confident in an LSU win.
“I mean, a night game in Death Valley, there’s only one right answer and it’s LSU,” Dunne said, to cheers from the crowd behind her.
But before that, she took a shot at Saban – who was sitting across the desk – for previous comments he’d made about Vanderbilt.
In a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Saban suggested it was the easiest place to play in the SEC.
“The only place you play in the SEC that’s not hard to play in is Vanderbilt. When you play at Vanderbilt, you have more fans there than they have,” he said.
“That’s no disrespect to them, that’s just the truth.”
It seems Dunne did her homework ahead of her College GameDay appearance, referencing Saban’s comments while making her pick.
The comments went viral after the Commodores defeated Alabama in Nashville earlier this season.
“Someone once said that Vanderbilt was the easiest place to play in the SEC,” Dunne said while looking at the former Alabama and LSU coach.
“But not today. I’m going with Vanderbilt.”
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McAfee, who was sat between the pair, let out a chuckle and crossed his arms as Dunne made her comments – which fans appeared to enjoy.
“Livvy Dunne roasting Nick Saban on College GameDay this morning was not on my CFB Saturday bingo card,” one viewer wrote on X.
“Livvy Dunne just trolled Nick Saban on GameDay about Vanderbilt. Is this real life?” another questioned.
