Nick Saban’s winning streak listed among ESPN’s ‘most unbreakable’ CFB records
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Former head coach Nick Saban is no stranger to setting big-time records and historic winning performances. That’s what happens when you win 7 national championships and produce an unparalleled list of NFL Draft prospects during a prolonged coaching career.
Now a member of ESPN’s College GameDay coverage, Saban’s accomplishments still reign supreme as the true head coaching GOAT in the sport. ESPN also included one of his winning streaks among the most unbreakable records in college football history.
ESPN’s Chris Low compiled that list, and his spotlight on Saban involves the head coach avoiding the dreaded upset at the hands of an unranked team. At one point, Alabama won 100 straight games against unranked teams, covering a 14-year span.
That streak eventually came to an end against Texas A&M, when Saban also lost to his former assistant, Jimbo Fisher:
Nick Saban won a slew of games against nationally ranked teams during his career, 104 to be exact, but his streak of beating the teams he was supposed to beat during his 17 seasons at Alabama was unmatched. The Crimson Tide won 100 consecutive games against unranked foes under Saban and went 14 years without losing a game to an unranked opponent, a streak that was snapped by a 41-38 loss to 19-point underdog Texas A&M on Oct. 9, 2021 with a walk-off 28-yard field goal by the Aggies’ Seth Small. It was the longest such streak in the AP poll era, and Saban was 123-4 overall at Alabama against unranked teams.
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The next closest winning streak against unranked teams in the AP Poll era is 73. That was done by Florida from 1990-2000.
We’ll see if anyone ever comes close to that sport down the road, but it’s hard to envision someone approaching triple digits for a long time coming.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
