Alabama's best non-national championship teams?
- Thread starter saturdaysarebet
- Start date
‘77 was a damn fine team. Early season loss in Lincoln to a pretty good Huskers team, then Beat #1 USC in the Coliseum. And of course the beat down of #6 OSU.
Having looked at it, I'm not as convinced NOW as I'm sure I would have been then (had I been a fan) that the result in 1977 was quite as unjust as we like to make it. YES - Notre Dame DID lose to Ole Miss, whom we beat.
But Notre Dame beat Miami by 38 on the road, we beat Miami by 36 at home.
And Notre Dame beat USC at home by 30, we beat them on the road by one when they failed on a 2-point try
And then Notre Dame's overall schedule was better than ours as well, as they beat defending national champion (and EOY #7) Pitt on the road by ten and a four-point win over EOY #19 Clemson by four, also on the road.
The SEC was simply not very good in 1977. Seven of the ten conference teams were 6-5 or worse, one was us, and we didn't play the other 10-1 team, Kentucky. We DID kill 8-4 LSU on the road.
That's the problem. We don't get to cherry pick the data and cite ONLY the Ole Miss score - and pretend the USC and Miami games didn't happen or that Notre Dame didn't play a much tougher schedule. It's not OUR fault, but if we had won the 1977 title - with a loss to Nebraska - it would have been the weakest SOR in the last 60 years other than 1984 BYU, which I think everyone here considers a joke.
Look, I get it, I'm a Bama partisan, but the larger context of how championships were won (sadly) favors Notre Dame and not "well, because they always get their way," either.
I would add 2021 to those listed. Injuries in the SECC & NC game allowed UGA to get their first one. In addition to injuries, some terrible play calling by BOB inside the 10. We led most of that game with FGs and a TD.
Meh, I don't know about that.
That 2021 team was damn fortunate to get to the playoff in the first place. We survived Florida on the road, choked away the aTm game, barely beat a 6-7 LSU team at home, and in all honesty if Tank Bigsby doesn't go out of bounds, we lose to Auburn. We walked a fine line all year and then peaked in the SECCG.
Most of the other teams listed here had 1 or at most 2 close games and usually against really good teams (1966 Vols, 1977 Nebraska). The 2021 team were classic underachievers commensurate to their talent and skill level.
We’ll have to disagree. The team itself wasn’t the problem. It was coordinators on both sides of the ball. Thus, losing to TAMU with a hot QB & struggling with mediocre teams (an understatement of course.) Probably the worst I’ve seen wrt putting the talent level on the field in winning situations. Bryce covered a lot of bad coaching too. I’m not saying they’re in the top of this discussion (or even top 5). But I do consider them in that discussion overall.1966, 1994 & 2016 would be my top three.
I will actually agree with you that the coordinators - 2021 is on them. Hell, 2022 as well.
We had TALENT but the play calling was atrocious. Nowadays a signal caller would audible and say “to hell with him.”
Agreed. We should’ve repeated in 2021 and at least been in the top 4 in ‘22.
Meh, Saban era is over. I view that as a chapter closed. You could say that most of his era is “nowadays” but are in the discussion since we had so many great teams that were close to national championships. But, perhaps, a line of demarcation is needed. Maybe all “pre-COVID” teams are in view.
I think you're missing the point. @selmaborntidefan was alluding to the fact that players in the NIL era (aka "nowadays") would just call the audible themselves and tell the coaches to stuff it. Well...2021 and 2022 are part of the NIL era...so....yeah.
No, my first post was to the OP where I brought up 2021. Which mentions nothing about “nowadays” and NIL. Then Selma and I discussed coordinators to which we both agree (thus our discussion). For the discussion as a WHOLE perhaps there needs to be a more defined time frame since how much the game has changed.
We are spoiled for sure. On a Barn board this is a short discussion hahaha SNASS.
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