Steve Spurrier has never been one to shy away from strong opinions about football and other subjects, and he dropped a few during his weekly appearance Monday on the “Another Dooley Noted Podcast” with longtime Florida sports writer Pat Dooley.

Spurrier, the legendary former Florida and South Carolina coach, picks Alabama to win the SEC in 2024. He made this prediction while unfortunately butchering the name of the Crimson Tide’s new head coach, not once, but twice.

“I’m gonna pick Alabama to win the SEC,” Spurrier said. “I like Jalen DeBoer and I think their players and their team will say ‘We don’t need our coach to win. We’re good enough to win by ourselves.’ And this guy is a hell of a coach, Jalen DeBoer.

“I think they’ve got a schedule they can work with. … I think they do play Texas early, is that correct? But obviously Georgia, Texas and Alabama are the top three, and I just think maybe Alabama will be the team to do it this year.”

Kalen DeBoer and Alabama have generally been picked around third in the SEC in the preseason, behind Georgia and Texas. However, the Crimson Tide does not face the Longhorns in the regular season. (We should probably cut Spurrier some slack on this, as he’s now 79 years old and live radio/podcasting is trickier than it looks.)

Spurrier’s beloved Florida Gators are typically picked between 10th and 13th in the SEC, but the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner said he thinks his alma mater might fare better this season. The Gators open the season with a key non-conference game vs. Miami on Aug. 31 in Gainesville.

“I’m gonna pick the Gators to finish somewhere around fifth or sixth, win between eight and 10 games, maybe nine, something like that,” Spurrier said. “I think we have a lot of good players and if we can beat Miami the first game and develop some confidence that we are good enough to win and now ‘let’s go do it,’ maybe that will sustain us throughout the course of the season.”

Spurrier also noted that many people like Ole Miss in the SEC, though the Rebels never even won the SEC West in the 32 years of the league’s East/West alignment. He picked Mississippi State as his “surprise team” in the SEC this season.

You can watch the full episode below. Spurrier’s appearance begins around the 15-minute mark: