The SEC has won between 28 and 40 college football national championships — depending on your source and school colors. Saturday Down South is ranking the conference’s 10 greatest national champions, acknowledging history while bowing to progress.

The countdown continues …

No. 5: 2012 Alabama

Record: 13-1

PPG: 38.7

Allowed: 10.9

SRS: 24.51. SRS combines margin of victory and strength of schedule, where 0 is average. The higher the number, the more dominant the team. This team’s SRS and strength of schedule were superior to the first half of the back-to-back champions.

Statistical oddity: Alabama had never had a 1,000-yard running back and a 1,000-yard receiver in the same season. In 2012, the Tide had two 1,000-yard rushers (Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon) and a 1,000-yard receiver (Amari Cooper).

Their case for greatness: Nick Saban’s second consecutive and third championship team in four years was his most prolific offensively.

AJ McCarron threw 30 touchdowns against just 3 interceptions. That TD total might not raise eyebrows at Florida, but it shattered the Crimson Tide school record.

Lacy and Yeldon each topped 1,100 yards rushing. Cooper caught 59 balls for an even 1,000 yards.

Not long after, all four Tide playmakers became NFL starters.

“It’s going to be pretty scary for the defenses that are going to be defending us,” Yeldon told al.com after the Tide outlasted Georgia in the SEC title game. “Me and Amari have gotten to be real good friends. … We’ve got a pretty good bond with each other.”

Yeldon was thinking long-term, but his message applied to the BCS National Championship Game against Notre Dame.

McCarron threw four touchdown passes in a 42-14 blowout. Two went to Cooper and one to Lacy. Lacy also ran for 140 yards and a touchdown. Yeldon added 108 and another touchdown. Cooper finished with 105 receiving yards — triple digits for the 1,000-yard triplets.

Alabama, unlike previous versions, had an offensive counter for any defensive maneuver. That’s what set it apart. That and its ability to overcome the natural reaction to winning, which is to relax.

That’s what most impressed Saban about 2012.

“I would say that regardless of the result that this team achieved, that they exceeded every expectation we had for them,” Saban told USA Today. “… They were able to repeat. That is hard to do. That is very, very hard to do. It takes special people with a special character and a special will.”

As we compared and contrasted the matchups of the 10 best SEC national champions, the tiniest flaw, the one area to exploit, often spelled the difference in our rankings.

In this case, Alabama’s 2011 and 2012 national championship teams were similar, built with similar players. Both defenses ranked No. 1 nationally in points against.

Cooper and Yeldon were new weapons in 2012, part of the nation’s best recruiting class, and McCarron was a year older, with a year’s more experience.

In six games against ranked teams, that 2012 offense averaged 33.0 points. That’s impossible to ignore when compared to the 2011 national champions, who scored just one touchdown in eight-plus quarters against LSU.

WhatIfSports.com not only agreed that the 2012 team was better than the 2011 team, its computers ranked the 2012 champions the best of the BCS era.

We’re not ready to go quite that far.

We think there are four better SEC national champions out there.

TOP 10 SEC NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

No. 10: 1961 Alabama: Greatest defense gives Bear first title

No. 9: 1980 Georgia: Herschel Walker and Run, Lindsay, Run

No. 8: A battle of Alabama caps golden era

No. 7: Super Cam and 2010 Auburn

No. 6: 2011 brings Saban sighting