Examining 2024 Alabama and 2010, its last three loss regular season

This has been a roller coaster of a football season, to say the least. And it marks the first time Alabama has lost 3 games in 14 years. Before we go any further we should all take a second to realize how insane that is. Now back to the question at hand. Alabama does not have a game this weekend and that's a real bummer. So I decided to pose a hypothetical question to pass a little time. When comparing the 2010 season to the 2024 season, which one would you prefer?

Before we go into debating it, I would like to say that I am only talking about the regular season. College Football and its postseason are so vastly different that they are not even remotely comparable. With that out of the way, let's break down the two seasons.

2010 Alabama

In 2010, Alabama was coming off of its first National Championship of the Nick Saban era and entered the season ranked #1 in the preseason polls. The season took a poor turn after SEC play, which resulted in all 3 of Alabama's losses, just like this year. But the losses were much different than this year. Here are the wins and losses to jog your memory.

The rankings next to the team names were the rankings when Alabama played those teams. Quite a tough schedule in 2010. TeamRankings had Alabama with the 6th toughest schedule in the country that year. Alabama lost their first game of the year to South Carolina by 14 points, 35-21. The other two losses, LSU and Auburn, were a 3-point loss and a 1-point loss respectively. You probably remember the Auburn game well. You know, the one where Alabama was up 24-0 midway through the 2nd quarter before blowing that lead and losing 28-27. And Auburn ended up winning the National Championship. Bad times.

2024 Alabama

One thing I want to say about this season is the narrative by some Alabama fans that other Alabama fans are being irrational for expecting more than 9 or 10 wins in Kalen Deboer's first year is dumb. Yes, expecting an undefeated season in year one would be irrational. And if you just look at the record, 9-3 is not bad. But to not take into account the losses, and how they happened, is just as dumb. Now that I've got that off my chest, let's look at what I'm talking about.

Another tough schedule. TeamRankings has Alabama with the 2nd hardest schedule in the country right now. That is massively benefitted by the fact that South Carolina was un-ranked when they played Alabama but has since climbed into the top 15. The biggest difference between 2010 and 2024 was where the losses came. Losing to Tennessee is no good, but understandable. I could even give you Vanderbilt. They were playing well, things didn't go Alabama's way early, Vandy got momentum and Alabama never could get it back. Again not good, but I can almost understand it. The Oklahoma loss on the other hand there is no defense for. It was awful.

Which would you take?

Let's compare the two seasons a little bit. In 2010 Alabama lost to 3 good teams. One of which ended up being the National Champion. But 2 of the 3 losses came to major rivals. The biggest of which ended up being the National Champion. Can you tell I'm still not happy about that? The regular season records of the 3 teams that beat Alabama in 2010 were 31-5. Very strong. None of the losses were overly disappointing as far as play is concerned. The disappointing part was that the losses were against rivals and winnable games.

In 2024, there was still one loss to a huge rival, but it was a one-score game in which Alabama played absolutely terribly. The loss to Vanderbilt was also a one-score game, where Alabama gave up the most points to an opponent all season. Then the Oklahoma game. Not just a loss, but a blowout loss. The worst loss I can remember in my life as an Alabama fan. Click here if you still have a little PTSD from that one. The regular season record of the 3 teams that beat Alabama in 2024 was 22-14. Significantly worse than the 2010 season and really paints the picture of how disappointing those two losses to Oklahoma and Vandy were. Both of those teams finished 6-6.

So the question is, would you rather have the 2010 regular season or the 2024 regular season? 2010 boiled down to losses to rivals in winnable games. 2024 was two awful losses to bad teams with a loss to a rival for good measure. In my personal opinion, as bad as this season has been at times, I would still take it over the 2010 season. A loss to Auburn always makes a season bad. And the 2010 loss was disappointing in its own disappointing way. Alabama had just won a National Championship the year before and were the favorites to win again before the season. The 2024 season had some of the worst moments I can remember, but it had some big moments as well. An instant classic win over Georgia, a blowout over LSU, and a win in the Iron Bowl. Highest of highs and lowest of lows.

As I am writing this I realized it's probably a bigger debate than I realized before I started writing. So where do you stand? Knowing everything about both regular seasons, which would you take? For what it's worth, after the end of the 2010 regular season Alabama was ranked #17. A good bit lower than they will be ranked after Tuesday night's poll is released following the 2024 regular season. I'd love to know where other Alabama fans stand on this one. Reach out and let's debate!