Alabama Football: Winning National Championships is too rare to be predictable, but bet on Nick Saban winning another with the Crimson Tide.
As Alabama football fans know so well, Nick Saban is not like everybody else. The man’s passion for excellence drives him to the pinnacle of possible achievement. At 69, instead of slowing down, he is better described as lapping the field of the universe of college football coaches, present and past.
Nothing lasts forever, but for Nick Saban and Alabama Football, there is no end in sight. If an end was looming, recruits would sense it first and react by choosing other schools, even when wooed by Nick Saban. As the Crimson Tide’s 2021 class shows, that is not happening. As the No. 2 prospect in the 2022 class said this week,
"Everybody dreams of playing with Bama"
The Alabama Football 2021 signing class is one of its best ever. Based on recruit rankings, it is college football’s best ever. There is more to building a roster than adding 5-Star recruits. But, coaches battle for the elite players because they are potential game-changers. Every FBS head coach dreams of having the recruiting success of Nick Saban and Alabama Football.
Based on the 247Sports Composite, there were 34, 5-Star players in the 2021 class. Combined, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU and Clemson signed 15 of the 5-Stars. Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide signed seven. That is a stunning separation in recruiting between the Alabama Crimson Tide and its top foes. What about the other 125, FBS teams? In total, they signed 12, 5-Stars.
The current passion for parity in college football argues expanding the Playoff will cure all ills. Adding another four teams to the Playoff will not enhance parity. The reason it won’t are the recruiting stats listed above.
There are gaps between college football programs. Unless there is some bizarre future where recruits are bureaucratically apportioned to create parity, the gaps will not go away.
The conventional way of viewing the gaps was presented by David Hale of ESPN, in a tiered ranking of the 130 FBS teams. Hale’s ‘Tier One’ is five teams: Alabama Football; Clemson; Georgia; Ohio State and Oklahoma. His ‘Tier Two’ list is seven teams: Florida; North Carolina; Notre Dame; Oregon; Penn State; Texas and Texas A&M.
What should be included in the listings is an explanation of how wide is the gap between Tier One and Tier Two. As Notre Dame keeps proving, a season inside a Tier One grouping means nothing about success in the CFB Playoff.
While debates over the strengths of individual teams have merit, Hale’s premise is correct. Every season there are only a small number of teams with a chance of being good enough to become the National Champion.
Nick Saban keeps Alabama Football in that small group better than any other program. What Saban does with astounding frequency is to put the Crimson Tide in a class by itself. Talking about the Tide and college football about a month ago, Urban Meyer admitted no other team is on the level of the Tide.
"The reality is that Alabama’s on a different stratosphere right now."
Urban says what other coaches know but don’t want to admit. Because of Nick Saban, where the Crimson Tide is, may never be replicated. No open-minded, true college football expert can argue Nick Saban will not win another National Championship. As hard as the championships are to win, claiming Nick Saban will not win another one is laughable.
The Alabama Crimson Tide has a legacy of championships. Throughout its history, the Tide has had more great coaches than any other program.