Alabama Football: Stop moving the goalposts on greatness

Alabama football is great, and leave it at that.

When other teams win national titles, they are easily considered great. They have achieved all of their goals in a season, and the matter is closed. When Alabama football wins a championship, we suddenly feel the need to redefine what “greatness” truly is.

Despite being vaulted into the conversation of best teams to ever play, people try to look at this season with a different lens. One ESPN radio host tried to explain that perspective.

Not only does Alabama have to beat everyone, but they have to play fun games. Every aspect of this comment is absurd. For starters, Alabama clearly has fun by winning. They would rather dominate an opponent like LSU than win with a game-ending field goal. Also, Alabama would be torn apart if they played in nail-biting games. They have set the standard so high that anything short of covering the spread is considered a failure. Fans were upset when they gave up 14 points in the CFP Semifinal. A 17-point win against a top-ranked team wasn’t good enough.

It should also be noted that Alabama just had the most successful offensive season in recent memory. This isn’t the grind-out style of old Alabama football teams. The offense was electric at every position, and that brings a level of fun that LSU never saw in 2020.

At the end of the day, it makes no sense to redefine what greatness is. A team is great if they play well and win their games. If you win national championships, you are doing it right. There is no reason to try to add contingencies on top of the already-difficult goals.

There is no doubt that Alabama football has been the best program in this generation of college football. Nick Saban has turned Tuscaloosa back into Title Town, and it is as simple as that.

In terms of whether or not they should be playing in fun games? Let there be murderball. Let it be joyless.