Nick Saban was back in Baton Rouge on the day of the Alabama-LSU game for the first in many years as a “non-combatant” on Saturday.

Now part of the ESPN College GameDay crew, Saban made his public return Saturday to LSU, the school where he coached from 2000-04 and won the 2003 national championship. And, of course, he made many trips to LSU’s Tiger Stadium as head coach at Alabama — where he won six more national titles — from 2007-23.

Early in Saturday’s GameDay broadcast, Saban talked about how it felt to be back on the LSU campus. Saban did so in what host Rece Davis noted were “neutral colors,” a blue-green suit and tie.

“It’s great to be back after 17 years of hearing 20,000 people say you’re ‘Tiger Bait,’” Saban said, “back with all these great fans that they have at LSU. Terry and I loved it here and it was a great experience for us. And winning the first national championship is always the best.”

Later in the broadcast, LSU’s mascot Mike presented Saban with a personalized No. 3 LSU jersey with “Cest Bon” — French for “it’s good,” and also a homophone for the coach’s last name — on the back. Fellow panelist Lee Corso got a No. 7 LSU jersey with the French-style “Corseaux” on the name plate.

No. 11 Alabama (6-2, 3-2 SEC) and No. 15 LSU (6-1, 3-1) kick off just after 6:30 p.m. at Tiger Stadium. The game will air live on ABC.