The echoes of glory from Nick Saban’s dynasty at Alabama will reverberate through every nook and cranny of Bryant-Denny Stadium for, well, forever.

Through a 17-season tour de force in Tuscaloosa that will be hard to match by anyone, anywhere, the feisty West Virginian arrived as that guy who won a national title at LSU 4 years earlier and left as Bama’s modern-day Bear Bryant.

The victories in T-Town were plentiful — there were 206 of them against just 29 losses.

The SEC titles were never ending — there were 9 of those against just 1 loss.

And the national championships came regularly and in bunches during Saban’s early seasons — there were 6 of those and we all know there easily could’ve been a few more.

But a half-dozen was quite enough and now Saban has had enough, retiring at 72 after rebuilding Bama into college football’s bully with a consistency of excellence that was hard to fathom. He restocked the Tide’s trophy case that was getting dusty since the 1992 title.

The Crimson Tide have been so good for so long under Saban, and now that the GOAT is gone it all seems like one big blur of big-time moments, confetti and trophy presentations, playing on an endless loop. All that continuous winning makes it really hard to differentiate one great Tide team from another and especially hard to rank them.

Because after a mediocre 1st season in 2007, all of Saban’s Bama teams were either very good, great or all-time great. Which ones were the greatest of the great?

It’s so ridiculously difficult to do a top 10, but we’ll give it a go, mindful that it’s like choosing among a bunch of Picasso paintings:

10. 2018

We start with an explosive Tide team that was pursuing a repeat national title and doing it quite well to the tune of a 14-0 record before it crashed and burned at the bitter end. This was the season when Tua Tagovailoa was off-the-charts excellent. His numbers were astronomical (3,966 yards, 43 TDs), and he would’ve won the Heisman Trophy in almost any other year. But Kyler Murray was just a little bit better, so Tua didn’t get the Heisman and then he didn’t get the national title either after Trevor Lawrence outplayed him in a national championship game nightmare. Bama was blown out by Clemson, 44-16, falling a win short of a perfect season and its 3rd national title in 4 years.

9. 2021

Three years later, Bama once again was trying to go back-to-back. Bryce Young dazzled that fall like Tua did 3 years earlier, but Young didn’t leave the Heisman ceremony empty-handed, becoming the 1st Crimson Tide quarterback to win college football’s most prestigious award. He set program records for passing yards (4,872) and TD passes (47). The Tide took down Georgia in the SEC title game and seemed primed to bring home another national title a month later. But like Tua 3 years earlier, Young wasn’t at his best when it mattered most, throwing 2 interceptions in the national championship game rematch with the Bulldogs while being outplayed by Stetson Bennett. As it turned out, this was as close as Saban would ever get to his 7th national title in Tuscaloosa.

8. 2014

Yes, this Tide team already had 1 loss before getting beat by eventual national champion Ohio State in the semifinals of the inaugural College Football Playoff. But it was a close early-season defeat at No. 11 Ole Miss. This particular Bama juggernaut recovered nicely, blasting Missouri in the SEC title game on its way to being the No. 1 seed in the Playoff. And by the way its 2 coordinators were guys named Lane Kiffin and Kirby Smart as the Saban coaching tree was on full display. Amari Cooper caught a whopping 124 passes for 1,727 yards and 16 touchdowns that year, but he couldn’t play defense, too, and the Buckeyes piled on 42 points in the Playoff win over the favored Tide.

7. 2016

Out of all of Saban’s near misses as Tide coach, this has to be the one that burns Bama fans the most. After a 2-year championship hiatus in 2013 and ’14, the Crimson Tide had regained their footing in ’15, outlasting Clemson in a riveting national title game. A year later, we got the rematch, and it looked like Bama was going to break Dabo Swinney’s heart again. But the exact opposite happened, as an exhausted Tide defense allowed a long drive and the winning touchdown with 1 second left in a stunning 35-31 loss. Gone was the repeat, gone was the perfect season and gone was the feeling that Saban would always find a way in a national championship game. This team was stacked, so this one stung badly.

6. 2011

This is where it gets tricky. With 6 spots left and 6 national title teams, that means an incredible team like the 2011 Crimson Tide that was so resilient and dominant is relegated to the No. 6 spot. This national championship team was the bridge to Bama beginning its dynasty. It was the Tide’s 2nd title in 3 years, it proved that 1st title team in 2009 was no fluke, and it opened the eyes of the college football world because of the way Alabama steamrolled LSU, 21-0, in New Orleans, in its backyard, to capture the crown. All at once, the Tide won a title, launched the dynasty and exacted revenge from the home overtime loss to the Tigers a few months earlier. It’s a shame one of these championship teams has to be No. 6.

5. 2017

OK, this team is relegated to 5 for the simple fact that it lost the Iron Bowl, albeit to an Auburn team that was ranked in the top 10. The loss on The Plains also prevented the Tide from making their just-about annual trip to Atlanta for the SEC title game. Despite a late-season loss and no SEC crown, Bama slipped into the Playoff as a controversial No. 4 seed. Like the 2023 team, it was as much of an underdog as you could possibly call Alabama. Unlike the 2023 team though, the ’17 Bama squad made the most of its inclusion, smothering No. 1 seed Clemson in the semifinals before outlasting Georgia in overtime in the title game on Tagovailoa’s legendary 2nd-and-26 heave to DeVonta Smith. This Tide team had guts, and it also had Minkah Fitzpatrick, which helped, too.

4. 2015

This was unquestionably the Fall of Derrick Henry. He had 2,219 yards rushing, crushing Herschel Walker’s long-standing SEC record. He had 28 rushing touchdowns. He won the Heisman Trophy. And then in the national championship thriller against Clemson, he had 36 carries, 158 yards and 3 touchdowns. Henry was a monster on a Tide team that suffered a fluky early-season home loss to Ole Miss, and he personally delivered Saban his 4th title in Tuscaloosa on a night when the defense got torched by Deshaun Watson. Heck, Henry was arguably the best Alabama player of the Saban Era, offense or defense. Remember, we’re not ranking Henry 4th, we’re ranking the 2015 team 4th.

3. 2009

This special team gave birth to the Saban Dynasty by first dethroning defending national champ Florida in the SEC title game. On that day in Atlanta, the Tide made Tim Tebow cry. And for the next 15 years or so, Bama inflicted a lot more pain on the college football world. It was just getting started in 2009, when Saban won his first title at Bama by leading the Crimson Tide to a perfect 14-0 season that was capped by a victory over Texas in the national title game. Fittingly, running back Mark Ingram became the first Bama player to win the Heisman, so it was a season of firsts for Crimson Tide football. It was also fitting that this national title was won at the Rose Bowl, which 14 years later would be the site of Saban’s final game as Bama coach.

2. 2012

When this ridiculously high-octane version of the Crimson Tide drilled overmatched Notre Dame in the national title game in Miami, it did more than cement Saban’s 3rd championship at Alabama. It cemented a dynasty. This was 3 national championships in 4 years. AJ McCarron, who was hardly ever flashy but hardly ever lost, shredded the Fighting Irish with Amari Cooper’s help. This Bama team had an embarrassment of riches in the backfield with Eddie Lacy and TJ Yeldon, and both ran for over 100 yards in the title game. On defense, forget about it. The relentless unit was backboned by star safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, and linebacker CJ Mosley was an All-American. Heisman winner Johnny Manziel was the only one who beat Bama that season. Every other foe suffered.

1. 2020

Yes, we’re going to hand the top spot to Saban’s 6th and final championship team in Tuscaloosa. The undefeated Tide only played 13 games that season because of the COVID pandemic, but that’s really all they needed to show the nation how lethal they were. DeVonta Smith won the Heisman with 117 catches and 23 touchdowns. Mac Jones won the Davey O’Brien with 4,500 yards passing and 41 TDs. Najee Harris won the Doak Walker with 1,466 yards rushing and 26 TDs. The offensive line was named the best in college football. The defense was serviceable and when it wasn’t, the offense overcame it. Many pundits called this team the best in college football history because of its array of weapons and because it steamrolled through an all-SEC regular-season schedule. All but one of the Tide’s wins came by double digits. This was Saban-led Alabama dominance at its finest.