Talk never won a championship. Mindsets can be a championship difference-maker, but only if followed by zealous execution. Does Alabama Football have the necessary mindset, aligned with execution for the coming season?
Alabama's Kadyn Proctor thinks the Crimson Tide does. Proctor understands the Tide's focus must be on everyday goals rather than end-of-season goals. He said he and his teammates are "trying to do our best [to go] 1-0 day in and day out." Proctor was also correct when he said by Alabama standards, Alabama hasn't "won a championship in a long time."
No National Championship in four seasons was made to feel like a long time during the Nick Saban years. Not equal, but similar were some Bear Bryant years in the 1960s and the 1970s. Other programs know four seasons do not come close to a long time.
Alabama Football, the rest of the SEC and the Big Ten
The Georgia Bulldogs won it all back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. Last season, Ohio State was the national title winner and Michigan won it the season the before.
Let's review the other SEC and Big Ten football programs and their most recent National Championship. USC won a Natty in 2005, as a Pac-12 school. Nebraska's last came in 1997. For the Penn State Nittany Lions, it was 1986. Michigan State has not won a National Championship since the 1966 season. That 1966 season, the Spartans and Notre Dame stole from Alabama what should have been a Crimson Tide three-peat. Minnesota and Iowa shared National Championships in 1960, along with Ole Miss. UCLA's last was in 1954; Maryland's in 1953; and Illinois' in 1951. Some credit Rutgers with a National Championship in 1869, but the game played then was closer to soccer or rugby than American football. Oregon, Wisconsin, Indiana, Northwestern, and Purdue.
Among current SEC football programs, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Missouri, and Vanderbilt have never won a National Championship. The most recent for LSU was 2019. The Aubies won it all in 2010. Florida's most recent came in 2008. As Big 12 members, Texas won it all in 2005, and Oklahoma in 2000. Phil Fulmer hoisted Tennessee's most recent national title trophy in 1998. Arkansas' most recent came in 1964 and was shared with Alabama. The most recent for Ole Miss was in 1962. Kentucky claims Bear Bryant's outstanding 1950 team was the National Champion, after upsetting No. 1 Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. The Wildcats cannot claim any others in football. The longest drought for an SEC program parches College Station. The Aggies have not won it all since 1939.
Tim Keenan III is entering his fifth season in Tuscaloosa. He has never played on a national title winner. But like Proctor, Keenan understands what it takes, "... with a championship mindset, you don't just be a champion on Saturday, you've got to be a champion every day ... before you can be champion, you have to learn how to win and you have got to know what it takes to be a champion. So right now, we've got our head down, and we're going 1-0, we've got to execute the plan and just got to keep the main thing the main thing."
If the attitudes of Kadyn Proctor and Tim Keenan represent the collective mindset of Alabama, the next Crimson Tide National Championship is on the horizon.
Note: SEC National Championship history and Big Ten National Championship history provided by 247Sports.