I'm gonna say this once for some of you haven't been here near so long and have decided to take umbrage over something ridiculous.
And I will only say it once.
The QUALITY of football player is SUBSTANTIALLY better now than in 1961. And spare me the phony, "You're one of these young dudes saying those guys weren't any good," which only someone who just buzzed in from another world could actually believe about me, particularly since I'm a white dude myself.
It is MUCH MORE DIFFICULT to shut teams out nowadays. MUCH more than in 1961. Or 1966. Or for that matter 1979.
1) Kicking - notwithstanding some of what we've seen at UA - has become a specialty.
Teams simply did not routinely make 50-yard field goals in 1961. If a kicker's percentage was above 60% in 1966 that was FABULOUS.
You didn't see very many attempts from beyond 40 yards back then simply because it was high risk.
2) The fact of it is that those shutouts were run up against inferior competition compared to today.
I'm by no means saying, "Oh it was so easy" because if it was then it would have been even more common. But the fact is that football back then was a mostly regional game featuring virtually all white teams in the South (and other places as well).
And don't even bring in those red herrings about Penn State and 1969 or Michigan State and 1966. Anyone doing this is being so pretentious that quite frankly you don't even deserve a response - either because you're trolling or you're just NOT getting it.
3) Fumbles back in the day COULD NOT BE ADVANCED.
This is another issue. A defense can play a flawless game only to see the other team's defense return a fumble for a TD. Part of the reason teams went away from the wishbone was because it was a high risk/high reward offense with MANY fumbles. Once those fumbles were no longer spot recovery, the potential disaster was too much. Yes, I know there were OTHER reasons for mostly abandoning it, but that's a major one right there.
4) The passing game didn't evolve until the late 1970s.
Some of the types of blocks offensive lineman are able to do NOW were illegal back then. The AFL was primarily responsible for the NFL realizing they'd better do something about their boring game (along with Super Bowl VIII putting everyone to sleep). And please spare me the "you're saying Joe Namath wasn't any good" nonsense, too.
Consider the 2011 Alabama defense, the finest college defense I ever saw play.
Auburn scored 14 points us against in the 2011 Iron Bowl.
Our defense held them to NINE first downs and 140 total yards and forced two turnovers yet Auburn scored 14 points.
How? AJ fumbled the ball in his own end zone that was recovered for a TD and McCaleb returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
The DEFENSE did not surrender a single point that day and barely gave up any yards.
So again - NOBODY is saying it wasn't a good accomplishment, but it has to be viewed in context. Cy Young may have won 511 games, and he may have the trophy named after him.......but he wasn't even close to the greatest pitcher of all-time. Indeed, a case can be made for Warren Spahn or Greg Maddux or even Roger Clemens as FAR better than Cy Young.
Coach Bryant won six national championships and Coach Saban has also won six. But Saban's is the FAR greater accomplishment, not because Saban is modern or anything but because it is substantially harder to win them now. It's no longer a pre-bowl vote (which gave Bryant three of his six titles). And Saban - unlike Bryant save for 1978 - has had to go onto the field in essentially a winner-take-all game against the OTHER team presumed to be the best.
Just like the all-white game - it was NOT Bryant's fault those were the rules, but it is also the contextual reality.
(And don't even try the "you're saying Coach Bryant was no good" nonsense in light of the fact I have a picture of the man on my wall that has been there for over 30 years now).