How do you rank Alabama's great teams? In your opinion, which was the best?

2012 was probably the best team I have ever seen. I am not familiar with the 60's and 70's teams so no opinion on them.
I think we have a shot of having one of the most talented teams ever next year with a junior Tua, veteran o-line, and veteran secondary.

In my lifetime, `66 is way up there. `12 was good too.

2012 but 2016 would be number 1 if they beat Clemson.

RollTide_HTTR said:

2012 but 2016 would be number 1 if they beat Clemson.

Click to expand...

Pretty much my thoughts. Even then you'd have a serious debate on your hands.

1. 15
2. 17
3. 92
4. 11
5. 12

Well, I can only comment on those that I was both alive and watching, so some teams from before those may be better than my choices. I will alive for 73,78, and 79, and actually watched a very little bit in 78 and 79, but I didn't really know what I was looking at at all. So, I can't fairtly comment on those. Also, only teams that won an NC will get consideration here. Also, all of these teams below were great in my eyes, so don't take one ranked lower than another as a slight in anyway. Just how I remember them and how their particular wins made me feel at the time.

1) 2012 - That thorough pasting of Notre Dame and the fake girlfriend guy was as dominant as I have seen. Too bad the season was marred by the one hiccup to Johnny Football
2) 2011 - Revenge vs LSU where they barely got past midfield? Beautiful. AJ finally came into his own in that game, setting us up for what we did in 2012
3) 1992 - More for nostalgia and just pure, nasty defense. Watching the offense was painful at times. This was also the first undefeated season I got to witness, though there were some mighty close contests that season, or that is at least how I remember it.
4) 2015 - After that one loss to Ole Miss, Bama went on a dominating streak and brought out our second Heisman winner. Jake Coker seemed like an entirely different QB after his short benching in that game. Seems you can divide his season into two halves. Before the benching and prior vs everything after he came back in that game.
5) 2009 - I can't even believe I have this one as low as I do. It is probably my favorite or second favorite, just maybe not as dominant.
6) 2017 - One of my top 3 favorites, at least in the way we won the championship (probably #1 in that regard, actually). But if you had to say best, I don't think that team would win against some of our other teams. Though I might worry whether the 11 defense could stop a QB as mobile as Jalen as well as a mobile QB who could also throw like Tua. Hmmm....

1966 would have to be close to the top.

2016 was the best, IMO. One second away from being crowned the best team in the history of the sport.

In my lifetime, 1961 national champions. That nasty defense only allowed 3 tds the entire season, 2 fgs and pitched 6 shutouts. RTR!

If you could just combine the 2012 offense with the 2011 defense, you'd have the greatest single team in CFB history.

2015 was one helluva team, but it was weighted heavily in favor of one particular guy who won the Heisman.

What makes 15 so awesome, though, is that Clemson committed to (and with one notable exception did a great job) stopping
"the Beast" (as I called Henry the very first time I saw him)......and Coker stepped up and OJ stepped up and Drake stepped up
and Ardarius, too.

They'll never get the hype, unfortunately, because the Ole Miss performance was probably the absolute worst two quarters of Alabama
football since the 2nd half of the 2010 South Carolina game. (I'm meaning the 2nd and 3rd quarters, folks). So much gets lost to
memory, so the fact Ole Miss got an insanely lucky TD and one that was illegal won't change the fact that the story years from now will
be "Alabama was in a deep hole blah blah."

More emphasis will be on the 4th and 25 play in the Arky-Ole Miss game. Given what has happened the last two years, however, I'm
now convinced Alabama goes to the playoffs regardless.

FitToBeTide said:

In my lifetime, 1961 national champions. That nasty defense only allowed 3 tds the entire season, 2 fgs and pitched 6 shutouts. RTR!

Click to expand...

That is impressive! Wish I had been able to see that team in action.

'66 & '79

In 1925, we went 10-0, won the Rose Bowl and the National Championship. They gave up 7 points all year long, until Washington scored 19 in the Rose Bowl.

In 1930, we went 10-0 and won the Rose Bowl and National Championship, while giving up 13 points all year and pitching 8 shutouts, including a 24-0 win vs. Washington State in the Rose Bowl. This was probably Wallace Wade's greatest team.

In 1934, we were 10-0 with another Rose Bowl and NC and gave up 45 points all year. Coach Bryant played on this team.

1945 is rarely recognized because they aren't credited with an NC. But they were 10-0, and had a 4 game streak of scoring 55 points or more and drubbed USC 34-14 in the Rose Bowl.

I just wanted to point out these early teams because even though they obviously were in a different era and played a much different game and wouldn't match up with modern teams in any way at all, for their era they were unquestionably great. And they dominated the opposition they were faced with in a legendary way. I think Alabama of the past decade or so has played some of the toughest schedules in its history and for that reason I'd rank teams like 2011, 2012, 2015 higher, and even 2016 despite the lack of a title.

Best of all: 2011
Most dominant, or best, in the season they played: 1961, 1966, 1979, 1992, 2009

Based on 45 yrs of perspective and following the program, and how good the team was in comparison to their peers at the time:

1. 1966
2. 2012
3. 1961
4. 1992
5. 1979

saturdaysarebet said:

In your opinion, which was the best Alabama team ever? How do you rank some of the great ones?

Click to expand...

I am one of those who saw the 61 and 66 teams play. I tend not to believe that the 66 team was as dominate relative to the competition as the 61 team. Considering some of the close ones against Auburn, MSU and Tenn.

As much as I love the nostalgia of those years I do believe that the geometric improvement in athleticism we have seen in even the last decade makes a comparison between eras unrealistic.

I believe there is a lot of merit in other posters ranking of Saban's teams which are clearly stronger athletically than any earlier teams.

In my lifetime? 2012 for sure. It's always so hard to compare the teams from the 60's and 70's to the modern era though. The game, players, and competition was just so different. I think winning it all seems tougher now, the competition overall more even than it has been in past. Recruiting is a different animal too. Now there's more developed talent on the table and there are more resources for a recruiting staff to leverage when making decisions.

2016. And it should have been no contest really.

Both 61 and 66 were Filthy McNasty. Best in my lifetime. I think 66 had 6 shutouts.