It wasn’t easy, but Alabama held on to defeat Mississippi State 31-24 and improve to 10-0 on the season. It was the fifth time in 11 seasons under Nick Saban the Crimson Tide have started a season 10-0, and overall it’s the ninth time since 2000 an SEC team has gotten off to a 10-0 start.

So which of these nine SEC teams that started 10-0 was the best? Time to do some ranking.

9) 2017 Alabama (Final W-L: ?)

This year’s Alabama team starts at the bottom of this list simply because its season is still taking shape. In fact, potentially its toughest opponents are still to come, with Auburn, perhaps Georgia (in the SEC Championship Game), and then maybe the College Football Playoff.

To date, this season’s Crimson Tide squad just doesn’t have the resume yet that the other 10-0 teams finished with. They are 3-0 vs. AP Top-25 teams, but the only Top-10 team it has faced all season was No. 3 Florida State in the season opener, and the Seminoles have hit hard times since.

But if this list gets revised after the season, expect this Alabama team to move up. For one, it has been the No. 1 team in the AP Poll every week of the season, and despite showing some vulnerability against Mississippi State, it still has a dominating defense (leads nation in scoring defense, 2nd nationally in total defense).

8) 2008 Alabama (Final W-L: 12-2)

The first of Nick Saban’s Alabama teams to start 10-0, this team surprised a lot of people with its season. The Crimson Tide began the season ranked No. 24 in the preseason poll, but eventually shot all the way up to No.1 for five weeks on their way to a 12-0 start.

Alabama suffered its first loss of the season in the SEC Championship Game to No. 2 and eventual national champion Florida, 31-20. While it’s certainly no shame to lose to a team that would go on to win it all, the Crimson Tide’s uninspiring 31-17 loss to Utah in the Sugar Bowl keeps this season’s squad further down on this list.

The 2008 team finished just 3-2 vs ranked opponents, beating two Top-10 teams and sporting a top-five defense for the first time under Saban (No. 3 in total defense).

7) 2009 Florida (Final W-L: 13-1)

In Tim Tebow’s final season as the Gators’ quarterback, this team appeared on its way to being one of the best in SEC history. The defending national champions got off to a 12-0 start, were No. 1 for all but one week entering the SEC Championship Game, and had a 22-game winning streak dating to the 2008 season.

So what happened? Well, Alabama happened. In another 1 vs. 2 matchup in the SEC title game, No. 2 won again, as the Crimson Tide got revenge on the Gators with a 32-13 win and a spot in the BCS Championship Game.

Florida went on to the Sugar Bowl, where it took care of business in convincing fashion, routing previously unbeaten Cincinnati 51-24 in the final game of Tebow’s legendary career with the Gators.

What keeps the Gators lower on this list is their schedule. While they had a top-level defense once again (ranked in the Top 5 nationally in scoring defense and total defense), they only faced one ranked opponent during the regular season (No. 4 LSU) and just three for the entire season.

6) 2013 Alabama (Final W-L: 11-2)

This may seem a little low for this version of the Crimson Tide. But, it’s not always how you start, but how you finish, and at the very least how Alabama finished this season is the reason it stayed further down on this list.

Make no mistake, for most of the season this was looking like one of the great teams of all time in college football, not just Alabama or SEC history. The defending national champions started out No. 1 in the preseason and remained there the first 14 weeks of the season. During its 11-0 start, Alabama outscored its opponents 437-102, an average winning margin of over 30 points a game!

Then, the Kick Six happened.

Alabama turned out to be on the wrong end of the most famous finish in the history of the Iron Bowl. And just like that, no SEC Championship Game appearance, no BCS Championship Game appearance. Nothing.

The Crimson Tide followed up that shocking loss by giving an uninspiring performance in losing to Oklahoma 45-31 in the Sugar Bowl.

So given how they finished, it’s difficult to put this season’s Crimson Tide squad ahead of teams that either finished undefeated or played for the national championship.

5) 2004 Auburn (Final W-L: 13-0)

Very few fans can say with a straight face they saw this season coming from the Tigers.

Auburn started in the Top 20 of the AP Preseason Poll (No. 17), and by the end of September it was a Top-10 team and would stay there the rest of the season, doing something the No. 6, 7 or 8 teams on this list could not do — win the Sugar Bowl.

Auburn’s problem was this turned out to be a season in college football in which there were not one, not two, but three undefeated Power 5 teams (overall, there were five unbeatens in the FBS entering the bowl season, when you count Utah and Boise State). The Tigers were the odd team out each time the rankings came out.

When the first BCS Poll was released in mid-October, Auburn was No. 4. By the time October ended, the Tigers were No. 3 in the BCS Poll, and that’s where they would stay the rest of the regular season. Auburn simply couldn’t work its way past No. 1 USC and No. 2 Oklahoma.

While the issue can be debated forever whether this team deserved to play for the national championship, Auburn fans can be comforted by a couple of notes. The Tigers finished 5-0 vs. ranked opponents and defeated four Top-10 teams. No other team on this list beat more Top-10 opponents.

They also had the nation’s top scoring defense, allowing just 11.3 points per game. The four Top-10 opponents the Tigers beat that season averaged just 9.5 points per game against the Auburn defense.

4) 2011 LSU (Final W-L: 13-1)

LSU has won two national championships in the 21st century. But the 2011 team still may have been the Tigers’ best team.

After starting the season No. 4 in the AP Preseason Poll, LSU faced some heavy competition right out of the gate. The Tigers went 3-0 against ranked opponents in August and September, and all three wins were away from Death Valley. By the time October came around, the Tigers were the No. 1 team in the nation.

They would stay there the rest of the regular season, finishing 13-0 and with an SEC Championship. But the Tigers flopped in a big way on the biggest stage of the college football season, losing 21-0 in a rematch with Alabama in the BCS Championship Game.

Still, it was an amazing season for LSU and its fans. Eight of its 13 wins that season came against ranked teams, with five of those wins coming away from Baton Rouge.

The Tigers were second in the FBS in both total defense (261.5 YPG) and scoring defense (11.3 PPG). The only problem for LSU that season was the team that ranked ahead of it in both of those categories — Alabama.

3) 2016 Alabama (Final W-L: 14-1)

This team was one second away — literally — from being No. 1 on this list. One second away from becoming the first 15-0 team since the 20th century began. One second away from being No. 1 wire-to-wire in the AP Poll.

And one second away from giving head coach Nick Saban a sixth national championship.

But despite Clemson pulling off the 35-31 victory and winning the national championship, this was still one of the best teams in Alabama history.

The Crimson Tide defeated nine ranked opponents in 2016, once again had the nation’s best defense (No. 1 nationally in both scoring and total defense). And this season’s team featured an offense that averaged nearly 40 points a game.

2) 2010 Auburn (Final W-L: 14-0)

This team may go down as one of the most surprising national champions in college football history. Auburn was barely ranked in the preseason, did not jump into the Top 5 until the middle of October, and according to goldsheet.com was still an underdog by more than a field goal in the Iron Bowl against Alabama.

But with an offense that averaged over 40 points a game, ranked in the Top 5 nationally in rushing and featured a Heisman winner in quarterback Cam Newton, the Tigers rolled through the regular season with a perfect 12-0 record. They won the SEC title over South Carolina with a then-record 56 points and in the BCS Championship Game defeated No. 2 Oregon on the game’s final play.

Auburn went 6-0 against ranked opponents, beating three Top-10 teams in the process.

Not bad for the No. 22 team in the AP Preseason Poll.

1) 2009 Alabama (Final W-L: 14-0)

Nick Saban had perhaps his best team ever in 2009, when he won his first national championship with the Crimson Tide.

Alabama began as a Top-5 team in the preseason and quickly showed it would be a force all season with a win over No. 7 Virginia Tech in the season opener. By the middle of October it had reached No. 1 in the polls, but eventually was stuck behind defending national champion Florida at No. 2.

The Crimson Tide won the SEC Championship Game with a convincing victory over No. 1 Florida, 32-13. Alabama went on to the BCS title game, where it took care of Texas 37-21.

It was a typical Nick Saban-coached team in 2009. Alabama was second in the nation in total defense, scoring defense and rushing defense. The Crimson Tide averaged over 30 points and 400 total yards a game on offense.

In terms of competition, Alabama went 6-0 vs. ranked opponents, beating four Top-10 teams. In fact, in its final two games, Alabama defeated the nation’s No. 1 team (Florida) and then the No. 2 team (Texas).