Are Alabama football fans more optimistic about the Crimson Tide than Nick Saban?

Going back to November 2008, Nick Saban re-established the definition of a bad Alabama football season. The second Saturday in November that year, Alabama traveled to Baton Rouge and beat the LSU Bengal Tigers 27-21. It was the tenth win of the 2008 season for the Crimson Tide. Alabama finished that season 12-2. The definition of a bad Alabama football season became any season with less than 10 wins.

Going further back in college football's history, 10 wins in a season was a major measure of success. When fewer games were played each season Paul 'Bear' Bryant's Alabama teams won 10 or more games 13 times. That was over 25 Alabama Football seasons. Nick Saban's Alabama teams won 10 or more games every season going back to 2008; a total of 16 consecutive seasons with double-digit wins. Only once were the wins as few as 10.

Since Saban's retirement in January, the college football world has been asking how far the Crimson Tide will slide. Many voices have not asked but instead pronounced that the Alabama Crimson Tide's glory days are over.

Maybe the nay-sayers will be proven correct. After all, no program in college football carries a guarantee for success. Few things would please me more than Kalen DeBoer, his staff and the 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide proving the nay-sayers wrong.

Should Alabama Crimson Tide fans temper expectations? Nick Saban was recently asked about the Tide's prospects in the coming season. Saban's response was, "I think for Alabama, they've got a lot to overcome in the short term because of the number of players that left this year."

Saban's realistic assessment does not mean he lacks optimism for the Crimson Tide. It might mean his optimism is not quite up to the level of most Alabama fans.

2024 Alabama Football Poll

In a recent poll, Bama Hammer asked fans to choose a prediction Alabama will go 12-0 in the regular season; or 11-1; or 10-2; or the Tide would get nine or fewer wins. The poll result was 92.2% predicted Alabama will win 10 or more games in the 2024 regular season. The percentages were 31.2% for 10-2; 41% for 11-1 and 20% for 12-0.

It is not known how many in the 7.8% of 'nine or fewer' votes were corrupted by Auburn fans.

Are Alabama fans being typically arrogant? Yes, we are, and for good reason. The truest measure of the success of any Alabama football season is a National Championship. In college football's last 15 seasons, the Alabama Crimson Tide has won six National Championships. All the other college football teams combined have won nine.