Alabama Football Dynasty Over? Don’t Count On It.
By Chris Dodson
Alabama loses one game and the national rhetoric turns to whether Alabama football has lost its Greatness. After losing a national championship game, the question: Is Alabama’s Dynasty over? The answer is that it couldn’t be farther from “over.”
Alabama football is the giant in the perception of national sports media. In the sports media cycle, nothing is easier to report than when a giant is taken down from its throne, especially in a revenge game. The Alabama giant was taken down by a scrappy Clemson team, looking for blood after last year. The story couldn’t have been written any better if J.K. Rowling herself decided to adapt the script into a new book.
Alabama was the team whose defense had it’s way with so many opponents. The Tide was a team with a freshman phenom of a quarterback who, while raw, showed signs of future promise.
It’s all over. Now, all hope is lost and Alabama won’t ever win another national championship ever again. At least that’s what the nation would like you to think. But Alabama, despite missing out on this chance, will be back in the national championship again soon.
It’s not like Clemson didn’t deserve to play for the championship, much less win it. Clemson has Deshawn Watson, a quarterback who’s been a Heisman finalist the last two years. He has given Alabama headaches the past two years. The statistics favored the Tigers for much of the game, even when the scoreboard didn’t reflect it. These two teams were the best in the nation, no question about it.
The fact is this: Alabama’s dynasty in the Nick Saban era was enshrined into football history even before the National Championship game kicked off.
For starters, let’s look at Alabama’s record under Nick Saban. Not counting the vacated wins in 2007, the Tide lost 8 games in Nick Saban’s first two seasons. Since then, they have lost 11 in 8 seasons. That’s 1.375 losses per season. There are a ton of teams in the NCAA FBS that would kill for that kind of ratio. But it’s not just the records, it’s the championships.
Alabama has won 5 SEC Championships, which means half of Nick Saban’s time at Alabama has been spent winning the conference. The Tide has won the Western Division 6 times, which is
Alabama Crimson Tide
arguably the most competitive division in college football. Alabama, of course, has won 4 national titles and won them in championship games by an average of 17.5 points per game.
Why am I telling you all this? Because the talking heads on ESPN and FS1 have a real problem of not seeing the forest for the trees. Alabama has been successful and will be successful again. Just look at the history.
How could we forget the game where Heisman-Trophy winning QB Colt McCoy got injured and Greg McElroy won Alabama’s first championship in 17 years? How could we forget preventing LSU from crossing the 50-yard line in the 21-0 shutout in the Superdome? How could we forget the pummelling that Alabama gave Notre Dame? And don’t even get me started on the LSU “Games of the Century”, the Iron Bowls.
All this to drive home one point: Alabama is solidly in the middle of a dynasty, not over it. Alabama will be back in the championship game. Yes, to some Alabama Football may be “boring” and “not fun”, but the train won’t stop just because of complaints about style points.
Saban’s Alabama win #119 will come against Florida State in September. The dynasty will continue and the Road to 17 will progress.