Alabama Football: Making a claim current team is Saban’s best

Alabama Football: It is possible the 2020 Crimson Tide is Nick Saban’s best-ever team.

With an expectation of four more games in the 2020 season, Alabama football fans are asking if the 2020 Crimson Tide could be Nick Saban’s best-ever. A final answer is several weeks away, but minus a completely unexpected collapse, this Alabama Crimson Tide can become Nick’s best-ever.

If this discussion was about the best-ever team in Crimson Tide history, other Tide National Champion teams would be considered. Certainly, the 1961, 1978, 1979 and 1992 National Champions were great teams. There are some longtime Alabama football fans who claim 1966 was the best Crimson Tide team of all-time. That argument can be made, but though deserving of a National Championship, the 1966 team was not awarded one.

The college football game has changed rapidly in the past 10 seasons. Any task of comparing earlier eras to today is practically impossible. While possible, comparing the 2009 Alabama football team to this season also requires assessing teams from two different eras.

Dozens of standards of measurement could be used. To keep it simple, this analysis considers just three. The first being only National Champions are considered. For the 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide, the Championship goal is a work in progress. The primary measurement is point differential. The differential is calculated as Crimson Tide, average points-per-game; minus opponents, average points-per-game. The third consideration is schedule difficulty. Each season’s out-of-conference competition and their aggregate win-loss record is both an objective and subjective data point.

Alabama Football 2009 National Champions

Regular-season, out-of-conference (OOC) opponents: Virginia Tech (10-3); Florida International (3-9); North Texas (2-10) and FCS Chattanooga (6-5). The combined record of the four OOC opponents was 21-27.

The 14-0 Alabama Crimson Tide scoring average was 32.1 points. The Tide defense’s points-allowed average was 11.7 points, for a 2009 winning margin average of 20.4 points.

Alabama Football 2011 National Champions

Regular-season, out-of-conference (OOC) opponents: Kent State (5-7); Penn State (9-4); North Texas (5-7) and FCS Georgia Southern (11-3). The combined opponent record was 30-31.

The 12-1 Alabama Crimson Tide scoring average was 34.8 points. The defense points-allowed average was 8.2 points, for a 2011 winning margin average of 26.6 points.

Alabama Football 2012 National Champions

Regular-season, out-of-conference (OOC) opponents: Michigan (8-5); Western Kentucky (7-6); Florida Atlantic (3-9) and FCS Western Carolina (1-10). The combined opponent record was 19-30.

The 13-1 Alabama Crimson Tide scoring average was 38.7 points. The defense points-allowed average was 10.9 points, for a 2012 winning margin average of 27.8 points.

Alabama Football 2015 National Champions

Regular-season, out-of-conference (OOC) opponents: Wisconsin (10-3); Middle Tennessee State (7-6); Louisiana Monroe (2-11) and FCS Charleston Southern (10-3). The combined opponent record was 29-23.

The 14-1 Alabama Crimson Tide scoring average was 35 points. The defense points-allowed average was 15.1, for a winning margin average of 19.9 points.

Alabama Football 2017 National Champions

Regular-season, out-of-conference (OOC) opponents: Florida State (7-6); Fresno State (10-4); Colorado State (7-6) and FCS Mercer (5-6). The combined record of the four OOC opponents was 29-22.

The 13-1 Alabama Crimson Tide scoring average was 37.1 points. The defense points-allowed average was 25.2, for a winning margin average of 25.2 Points.

How does the 2020 Crimson Tide compare? The combined record of the nine opponents played is 38-37. Even in a down SEC year, the All-SEC schedule should be considered tougher than any of the five National Championship season schedules, populated with at least two weak FBS teams and an FCS game every year.

So far the 2020 team has not won a Championship but arguably has played (or will play) the toughest schedule. It also has the highest winning margin of 30.9 points-per-game. The 2020 Crimson Tide offense has averaged 49.2 points per game and the defense has allowed 18.3 points.

Team records and statistics in this post from Sports Reference and rolltide.com.

In January 2021, Alabama football fans might be calling the 2020 Crimson Tide, the best-ever. Certainly the best-ever in the Nick Saban era.