Considering what Alabama does on the biggest of big stages, the program is just this close to winning six national title in seven years.
It took the eventual national champion Ohio State Buckeyes to have everything humming at the highest and most focused of levels to get through the Sugar Bowl, and even then Alabama was right there in a 42-35 firefight. With only some due respect to Oregon, that battle in New Orleans was the real national title game.
It took one of the greatest finishes in college football history on Auburn’s Chris Davis miraculous kick-six to keep the Crimson Tide from – with only some due respect to 2013 Missouri - getting its shot at a Florida State team that needed a last-second touchdown to win the 2014 BCS championship.
It took an epic performance from Tim Tebow to pull out a fourth quarter thriller over the unbeaten Tide in the 2008 SEC championship.
So, it took everything two eventual national champions had in the bag, and a miracle from a team that came within a late stop of winning a national title, to keep Alabama from a whole other level of dominance.