Alabama football: Ranking Nick Saban’s championship teams with Crimson Tide

1. 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide

Record: 13-0 | Def. Ohio State, 52-24, in CFP National Championship Game

You could call this engaging in recency bias but I don’t actually think that’s the case. When you look at the dominance of the most recently crowned champs and all that they had to navigate en route to that level of superiority, there aren’t many strong arguments for this not being the best team that Nick Saban has ever coached and, perhaps, the best in college football history.

The success of Alabama this past year starts, of course, with the offense. With Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver DeVonta Smith paired with quarterback Mac Jones and running back Najee Harris, both of whom also finished top five in Heisman voting, and the best offensive line in the country, they were unstoppable when they had the rock. Hence why they finished second in the country in scoring at 48.5 points per game.

However, the other side of the ball was underrated because of the pace that the offense played at. In fact, many people would probably be shocked to learn that the Crimson Tide were a top-15 scoring defense last season, even with playing 11 SEC teams on the year.

Once they got to the College Football Playoff, they were just as dominant. They ran through both Notre Dame and Ohio State with relative ease, leaving neither game in doubt. And for good measure, the Crimson Tide only trailed in the second half once, their eventual double-digit win over Georgia.

Taking all this into account, there isn’t an Alabama team better than what we saw in 2020.

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