When it comes to college football coaches, there’s Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, and then there’s everyone else.

Indisputably the two best coaches in the land, combining to win six of the last nine national titles between them, Meyer and Saban have raised the bar for success as they’ve torn through the college football landscape like a piece of tissue paper.

The SEC was lucky enough to claim both coaches from 2007 (Saban’s first year at Alabama and Meyer’s third at Florida) through 2010, when Meyer stepped down as coach of the Gators.

During those years, both coaches stockpiled an inordinate amount of talent from all across the country, creating unmatched depth at nearly every position.

Both coaches became known for their talented secondaries, and in honor of Defensive Back Week at SDS we thought we’d indulge in a little hypothetical debate: Which coach boasted the best secondary during his years in the SEC?

Was it Meyer’s 2009 Florida secondary, which fell in the SEC title game to Alabama? Or was it Saban’s 2011 secondary at Alabama, the year he won his second title with the Tide?

Yes, that 2011 Alabama team won its title one year after Meyer exited the SEC, but it’s secondary that year would be considered one of the better units at the NFL level, much like Florida’s 2009 defensive backfield.

In order to determine which group has the edge, let’s evaluate both secondaries through three different criteria to decide a winner:

THE NUMBERS

Numbers may not tell the entire story about both secondaries in question, but they certainly don’t lie. And the numbers say Alabama’s 2011 secondary has an obvious edge over Florida’s 2009 bunch.

The Tide limited opponents to just 111 yards per game through the air in 2011, 20 yards fewer than any other SEC defense that season. Florida’s 2009 defense was impressive in its own right, but not quite as much as the Tide was two years later. Florida’s secondary allowed opponents to throw for 152 yards per game, only 11 fewer than the next best SEC defense.

Florida’s secondary was better when it came to making plays, logging 20 interceptions in 2009 to Alabama’s 13 in 2011. But Alabama holds a 56-48 edge in pass breakups, and Alabama’s defense forced more third down failures from opponents than Florida. The Tide held opponents to just a 24 percent third down conversion rate, while Florida held opponents to a 29 percent conversion rate.

Edge: Alabama.

POSTSEASON HONORS

Another way to compare the two secondaries is through postseason recognitions. This is a great way to measure both the starpower and the depth of the two units, which in turn should help us determine which group was better.

For the purpose of this section, we’ll using a scoring system to decide who has the edge:

  • First-team All-SEC — 1 point
  • First-team All-American — 2 points
  • National Defensive Player of the Year — 3 points

Only first-team honors are recognized below. Let’s take a look at how many all-conference and All-American players each team boasted once upon a time:

Alabama:

Mark Barron — 3 All-SEC (2009-11), 2 All-American (2010-11)

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix — 1 All-SEC, 1 All-American (both 2013)

Dee Millner — 1 All-SEC, 1 All-American (both 2012)

(NOTE: Dre Kirkpatrick and Robert Lester were both second-team All-SEC twice, but neither ever cracked the first team.)

TOTAL — 13 points.

Florida:

Ahmad Black — 1 All-SEC, 1 All-American (both 2010)

Joe Haden — 1 All-SEC, 1 All-American, 1 National Defensive Player of the Year (all 2009)

Janoris Jenkins — 1 All-SEC (2010)

TOTAL — 10 points

Edge: Alabama.

NFL TALENT

If you really want to evaluate the talent of these two units, look no further than the NFL. The pinnacle of football makes room for only the best and brightest, and the amount of NFL talent on both teams in question is so overwhelming it’s almost laughable.

But which team had more NFL talent, specifically in the secondary? Let’s find out:

Alabama:

6 NFL DBs — Barron, Clinton-Dix, Kirkpatrick, Lester, Millner, Sunseri; 4 first-round picks — Barron, Clinton-Dix, Kirkpatrick, Millner

Florida:

5 NFL DBs — Black, Haden, Hill, Jenkins, Wright; 1 first-round pick — Haden

Edge: Alabama.

It’s a clean sweep for the Crimson Tide. Alabama’s 2011 defense is regarded as one of the greatest defenses in college football history, and the secondary was a big part of the unit’s success.

Florida’s 2009 secondary was better than most from the last two decades, but it’s safe to say Alabama’s is better than all of them.