Link: Alabama Has The Most Wins Against #1 Teams

[sanjosecrimson]

Who has the most wins vs. No. 1 college football teams?

Alabama has won the most games vs. No. 1-ranked teams in college football history. See which teams make the rest of the list.

www.espn.com

I knew Bama was up there, but it's a record and I think its appropriate to post this fact before we face #1 Indiana.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

For those wondering, we are 11-5 all-time in games versus #1.

As a reminder: Alabama has spent more weeks by far than any other team at number one, 141.

That means we've also had FEWER CHANCES to face #1 than anyone else.

WINS
1977 USC
1978 Penn St
1992 Miami
2009 Florida
2011 LSU (2nd time)
2012 Notre Dame
2014 Mississippi State
2015 Clemson
2017 Clemson
2021 Georgia (SECCG)
2023 Georgia

LOSSES
1957 Auburn
1971 Nebraska
2003 Oklahoma
2011 LSU (1st time)
2023 Michigan

 

[tusks_n_raider]

For those wondering, we are 11-5 all-time in games versus #1.

As a reminder: Alabama has spent more weeks by far than any other team at number one, 141.

That means we've also had FEWER CHANCES to face #1 than anyone else.

WINS
1977 USC
1978 Penn St
1992 Miami
2009 Florida
2011 LSU (2nd time)
2012 Notre Dame
2014 Mississippi State
2015 Clemson
2017 Clemson
2021 Georgia (SECCG)
2023 Georgia

LOSSES
1957 Auburn
1971 Nebraska
2003 Oklahoma
2011 LSU (1st time)
2023 Michigan

CNS was 8-2 vs the #1 team at Bama.

Could have easily been 10-0 with a few breaks.

That is truly jaw dropping.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Of Alabama's five losses to number one, three of those teams won the national championship and the other two played for the national championship.

Six of our 11 wins resulted in a national championship for us and one can argue a 7th (1977 USC) should have.

 

[BhamToTexas]

For those wondering, we are 11-5 all-time in games versus #1.

As a reminder: Alabama has spent more weeks by far than any other team at number one, 141.

That means we've also had FEWER CHANCES to face #1 than anyone else.

WINS
1977 USC
1978 Penn St
1992 Miami
2009 Florida
2011 LSU (2nd time)
2012 Notre Dame
2014 Mississippi State
2015 Clemson
2017 Clemson
2021 Georgia (SECCG)
2023 Georgia

LOSSES
1957 Auburn
1971 Nebraska
2003 Oklahoma
2011 LSU (1st time)
2023 Michigan

And 2019 LSU loss.

Crazy to see Purdue high on that win list.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

And 2019 LSU loss.

Crazy to see Purdue high on that win list.

LSU was not ranked #1 when they played us.
Ohio State was.

They were #2 and we were #3 in the CFP rankings.

They were #1 in the AP poll, which meant nothing in 2019, and for the record, they had fewer first-place votes than we did as well.


ETA:
Look, I guess one could argue this one either way, but I suspect that had we beaten LSU in 2019, it wouldn't have been counted. They clearly use the AP poll prior to the CFP release and then only use that one.

 

[Elefantman]

And 2019 LSU loss.

Crazy to see Purdue high on that win list.

I wonder how many of those Purdue wins where early in the season, against teams the polls where just guessing who was number one.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Crazy to see Purdue high on that win list.

PURDUE'S WINS VS #1

1950 Notre Dame, 28-14
1954 Notre Dame, 27-14
1957 Michigan State, 20-13
1960 Minnesota, 23-14
1965 Notre Dame, 25-21
1967 Notre Dame, 28-21
1976 Michigan, 16-14

The 1950 win against Notre Dame is, in my view, a joke to include. It was the second game of the year of an overrated Irish team that went 4-4-1. The others are legit and THREE of them were in November, so I'll give Purdue credit for not being afraid to play #1 teams up north in November.

AUBURN'S WINS VS #1
1994 Florida
2001 Florida
2013 Alabama
2017 Georgia
2017 Alabama

For the record, Alabama has faced Auburn while the Tide was ranked #1 ten times and gone 8-2. One of those games...Alabama didn't even have their head coach, who was home nursing a Covid infection.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I wonder how many of those Purdue wins where early in the season, against teams the polls where just guessing who was number one.

Well, three of them were early but two of them were teams where Purdue was the only team who beat them. The only specious one is 1950 Notre Dame.