Of all the 7 rings, 2020 was Nick Saban’s most impressive one yet
He won’t say it, so I will.
Ring No. 7 was Nick Saban’s most impressive yet.
That’s not recency bias. That’s not just because it was the ring that allowed him to pass Paul “Bear” Bryant, either.
In 2020, when nothing came easy for anyone, Alabama made dominating an entire slate of Power 5 opponents look like it had weekly matchups with Group of 5 teams collecting a 7-figure check in exchange for a beatdown. There was no check collected by anyone, especially not Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday night. Instead, it was another costly 60-minute reminder that nobody was on Alabama’s level in 2020.
History might not appreciate Alabama’s dominance, and when you win your 6th title in a 12-year stretch, well, it hits a little differently than say, 2019 LSU? Speaking of that, which team do you think would win between … just kidding. I’ll let y’all debate that.
What’s up for debate is if this was the most impressive Alabama team Saban has had. In terms of “dominance,” yeah, there’s an obvious case.
The 2020 Alabama team beat 13 Power 5 opponents. Saban had never defeated 12 Power 5 opponents in a season.
Monday night had a feeling similar to 2009, which was Saban’s only other perfect team. That team beat 6 ranked foes, just as the 2020 team did. The difference? That 2009 team only beat 2 teams that went to New Year’s 6/BCS Bowl games while this 2020 Alabama team beat a ridiculous 5 teams that played in New Year’s 6 bowls.
Oh, and it won’t come as much of a surprise that the margin of victory against Power 5 opponents was pretty lopsided, too. That 2009 team won games against Power 5 teams by an average of 14.4 points. After Monday’s beatdown of Ohio State, the 2020 Alabama team actually saw its margin of victory vs. Power 5 opponents drop to 29.1.
Speaking of margin of victory vs. Power 5 opponents — the only ones who matter for this argument — compare each of Saban’s title teams:
- 2009 — +14.4
- 2011 — +24.1
- 2012 — +24.7
- 2015 — +15.7
- 2017 — +22.5
- 2020 — +29.1
Yeah, football is different now than it was 11 years ago. Greg McElroy attempted 11 passes in that 2009 title game, which was as many completions as Mac Jones had on Monday night … in the first quarter.
Speaking of Jones, that’s another reason this should go down as Saban’s G.O.A.T. season. Go back to 2 years ago when he hired Steve Sarkisian. His hiring after a failed run with the Atlanta Falcons was scrutinized, especially for an Alabama team coming off the worst loss of the Saban era to Clemson in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship.
All Sarkisian did with 2 different quarterbacks was lead the 2 best offenses in school history before getting the Texas job. He set an FBS record with 24 consecutive games of 35-plus points and Alabama became the first team to yield 3 of the top 5 Heisman Trophy vote-getters — including Heisman winner DeVonta Smith — since 1946.
On Monday night, it didn’t matter that everyone and their mother knew about Alabama’s Big 3. Sarkisian still dialed up magic. There wasn’t an answer for Smith, who put up a casual 13 catches for 215 yards and 3 touchdowns … in the first half. Jones was on point all night with 464 passing yards and 5 touchdowns while Harris had 158 scrimmage yards and 3 touchdowns in his last collegiate game. Alabama was so dominant that it didn’t even matter that Smith was out with a wrist injury after the first series of the second half (he still won MVP honors).
Let’s dig into that “dominance” discussion a little more, shall we? No, 2020 Alabama didn’t have a defense like the 2017 or 2011 squad. So what? It still beat 11 Power 5 teams by at least 3 scores. The 2009 and 2015 teams had 5 such wins. The 2017 team had 7 while the 2011 and 2012 squads had 8 of those 3-score wins vs. Power 5 competition.
And for what it’s worth, the 2020 Alabama team only surrendered more than 24 points on 2 occasions. Neither game was in the Playoff, either.
Whatever the Crimson Tide wanted, it took in 2020.
Not even a pandemic got in Alabama’s way. This was the offseason when the gap was supposed to be narrowed without full access to world-class facilities like the ones that reside in Tuscaloosa. Those on the outside will never fully understand what it was like to be a college athlete in 2020. Yet Alabama never had a game canceled because of its own COVID issues.
Shoot, Saban even tested positive for COVID (twice) and Alabama just motored along like business as usual. A midweek false positive didn’t deter a blowout win against Georgia, and an actual positive test ahead of the Iron Bowl didn’t slow down the Crimson Tide train.
Besides the fact that there wasn’t a midseason loss to overcome like the 4 previous Alabama title teams, there was no sign that the 2020 squad dealt with any sort of “midseason adversity.” When some speculated that Jaylen Waddle’s ankle injury was going to prevent Alabama from winning a title, it actually improved on offense. Never mind the fact that including Henry Ruggs and Jerry Jeudy, 3 of the 4 elite wideouts from the 2019 squad were gone. Granted, it helps when you still have one of the great college receivers ever.
Some will look at Smith’s dominance and say that anyone could’ve won with this Alabama squad. They’d say that Alabama played with more talent than anyone, despite the fact that Harris was actually the only 5-star starter at the offensive skill positions. They’ll dismiss Alabama’s accomplishment and say that nobody played defense during the COVID season.
That’s fine. Ignore Alabama’s SEC record 48.5 points per game. Choose not to acknowledge that there were never any “Bama ain’t played nobody” cries all year in this SEC-only season.
Chalk it up to Bama being Bama, if you choose.
Scott Van Pelt said something so simple yet so accurate on SportsCenter after Alabama capped off its perfect season with an exclamation point.
“Winning like this isn’t easy. All year long, it was for Alabama.”
Football isn’t supposed to be this easy. It certainly looked like it with how locked in Alabama was all year. Everyone in the sport had their moments in 2020 when it looked like they had a steep uphill climb to accomplish a basic task. Clemson had that when Trevor Lawrence tested positive for COVID. Georgia had that when it couldn’t figure out its quarterback situation. Shoot, Ohio State had that when the Big Ten said it was punting on a fall season.
(Well, the Buckeyes certainly faced another uphill climb on Monday.)
Reaching the heights that Saban and Co. got to in 2020 proved to be an impossible feat for anyone outside of Tuscaloosa. It might be an impossible feat for any Alabama team to ever reach those heights again.
It was an unprecedented year. It was only fitting that we got an unprecedented Saban team.
Something tells me ring No. 7 will shine a little brighter on the Saban mantel.
The past two seasons Bama’s offense was impeccable in their execution. This year’s defense got better as the season progressed similar to LSU’s performance last year. Could watch their offense everyday, they were that good.
I’d like to thank Alabama for that dominating performance last night. I was able to fall asleep just after halftime thanks to that blowout.
Great article, but I have to nitpick one thing: Smitty did not have a wrist injury…it was a finger dislocation.
Step aside Bear, we have a new G.O.A.T.!
Actually, I thought of Nick Saban as the G.O.A.T. a couple of years ago.
Saban has had to play extra games in the form of the SECCG and CFP. Plus there is much more parity in the game.
Alabama needs to rename T-Town as Sabanville and redesign the State Flag to show Saban’s likeness.
As a Georgia fan living over here in Alabama, I always hope he’ll go into politics lol.
I’ve felt the same way about him for about as long. For him to do what he does in this era of unprecedented competition and scrutiny is beyond remarkable. Last night merely upgraded his place in college football history from legendary to unassailable.
Great game ! Roll Tide ! Coach Saban, in our eyes, has been the G.O.A.T for a while now.
Saban has been the GOAT. Beating up on a weak azz Ohio St team didn’t have anything to do with that.
Did Saban ever coach one platoon football? Did Bryant have the same budget as Saban? There are too many differences in the eras to say one was/is better than the other. They were both truly the best of their eras.
Just think what Bama could have done with a real QB instead of that “game manager”!
Don’t get The Scrub started please.
From SEC fans, thanks tide for rolling the acorns back to the big 10.
An awesome performance and team. Their QB was probably the most underrated player on the team. Yes, he had a supporting cast the envy of the world, but the pinpoint accuracy and coolness he displayed game in and game out was impressive. Every team wishes they had a “game manager” like him.
This is probably the most impressive team Saban has ever fielded at Alabama, and it’s certainly the one of the most dominant in program history. This team thumped four of the final top ten teams by double-digits this season. The offense was unstoppable, and the defense tightened up and played extremely well against teams not named Ole Miss and Florida. When I think of impressive, dominant Saban teams, I think of 2009, 2011, and 2012. This team blew all three of these out of the water and then some. It’s incredible that we are able to watch college football history continue to unfold in front of our eyes every season. This is a dynasty nobody could have predicted in 2007, and the best part is that it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Roll Tide, and SEC!
Congrats Bama, very little could make me happier than seeing ‘thu’ ohio state’ get a good thumpin. Well done!
Nick Saban is a throwback, it’s really what most of us actually admire about him. He doesn’t give a rat about what frilly underwear wearing sports writers think, nor should he. You don’t really matter. Saban doesn’t care about your feefee’s, that’s not what wins championships, and at the end of the day you know he is right.
“2020 was Nick Saban’s most impressive one yet”
Seriously? They were given a semi-cupcake game. OSU had zero business being in the natty.
AGREED. Weak as minnow Pizz
Like drinking a Bud Light and actually expecting to taste something.
It wouldn’t have mattered who they played. They would have beaten any body to death.
Congratulations Alabama on another one. I think you can officially say Bear Bryant was good and Sabin is great.
Titles that are shared should not be equated with those that are not. Saban’s LSU shared the title with USC.
That is not true. LSU won the championship game. USC won a sportswriter poll.
Something’s wrong with the Internet. I type saturdaydownsouth.com and Alabama Down South comes up. What gives?
If you ask any college coach they will tell you any is impressive. Yes, I think this is the best college football team in history, based on the pandemic, the talent, and the achievement. But I have a real problem trying to compare different eras of football, and this is a different era than 2009.