Nick Saban, Alabama dominance against SEC East summed up in mind blowing stat
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
No. 1 Alabama is set to take on No. 11 Florida in Gainesville on Saturday, a big matchup at 3:30 p.m. ET to kick off the 2021 “SEC on CBS” slate. Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, and Jamie Erdahl will be covering the game from the Swamp as the Gators look to snap a 7-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide.
If Nick Saban and his team has their way, though, they’ll extend what has been a remarkable run against teams from the SEC East. Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellinger noted on Saturday that Alabama hasn’t lost a cross-divisional matchup since Oct. 10, 2010, when South Carolina defeated Alabama 35-21 at Williams-Brice Stadium.
That adds up to a 31-game winning streak for the Tide against SEC East opponents. What’s more, as Dellinger notes, they’ve won those games by an average of 27 points, with just 5 finishing as 1-possession games.
Dan Mullen, of course, faced Saban and Alabama every year as the head coach of Mississippi State from 2009-2017 and then again as the Gators and Tide met in Atlanta in the SEC Championship Game in 2020. He is 0-10 in those games.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
