Even the most ardent detractors of Alabama football would have trouble putting forth an argument for anyone other than the Crimson Tide as the best program in the history of the sport. It started long before Nick Saban, contrary to what the ignorant but loud few might believe.
Alabama has a legitimate argument as the best team in five different decades, and CBS bent the rules a bit just to get other teams involved and keep their list from becoming an all-Alabama affair.
CBS Sports' Chip Patterson took on the task of naming the best college football teams from each decade of the last 100 years. Predictably, Alabama was dominant.
Patterson gave Alabama the nod in the 1930s, 1960s, and 2010s. They were also an "honorable mention" for the 1920s and 1970s.
Alabama has dominated college football for over 100 years
Saban reinvigorated a dynasty that had fallen on hard times, but the truth is the Crimson Tide has been winning at a high level for 100 years.
While Patterson gives Notre Dame the nod for the 1920s, Alabama deserved recognition, too. Led by Wallace Wade, Alabama won national titles in 1925 and 1926, with the 1925 championship bringing credence to football in the South.
Patterson gives Alabama the team of the decade in the 1930s with the Tide rolling off a 79-11-5 record with national championships in 1930 and 1934. Wade captured his third and final title in 1930, with Frank Thomas leading Alabama to the promised land in 1934.
Things were leaner in the 1940s and 1950s, but Bear Bryant's arrival in 1958 took Alabama to another stratosphere. Led by Coach Bryant, Alabama was the best and most consistent team in both the 1960s and 1970s, but Patterson only gave the Tide the nod in the 60s so as to include other teams.
Bryant led Alabama to titles in 1961, 1964, and 1965 with a 90-16-4 record. No team won at a higher level in the 70s, either, with the Tide rolling to an even better 103-16-4 record, culminating in three more national titles in 1973, 1978, and 1979. Patterson gave USC the 1970s, despite finishing with a 93-22-7 record.
Alabama went 13 years without a title from then until Gene Stallings took Alabama to the mountaintop in 1992, but the Crimson Tide didn't earn the team of the decade moniker again until 2010, which was a runaway.
Saban led Alabama to a ridiculous 124-15 record during that decade, capturing national titles in 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2017. That doesn't even include the titles in 2009 and 2020.
Kalen DeBoer has a long way to go to get the Crimson Tide into contention for the team of the decade in the 2020s. Georgia currently leads the race, but a national title or two in the next four years could change that narrative quickly.
In any case, Patterson's list is a stark reminder of how good Alabama was pre-Saban, and how good they stand to be post-Saban. He's the greatest college football coach ever, but the Crimson Tide has always been bigger than one person.
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