Nick Saban retired earlier this month after winning 206 games (or 201 — thanks, NCAA) in 17 seasons as Alabama head football coach.
Some of them were more important than others, however. But which wins were the greatest* during Saban’s Crimson Tide tenure?
*—highly subjective term that could mean different things to different people
Here’s a list of 12 of the all-timers (in chronological order):
1. Alabama 41, Georgia 30 (Sept. 27, 2008)
There were strong hints that Saban might be cooking up something special in Tuscaloosa early in his second season, but the “Blackout Game” left no doubt. The Bulldogs, clad in black helmets and jerseys to mark what would prove to be a somber occasion, came in ranked No. 3 nationally and were the preseason SEC favorites. The Crimson Tide was 4-0 and ranked eighth. This one was no contest, however, as Alabama raced out to a 31-0 halftime lead before Georgia made it mildly interesting in the second half. The Crimson Tide would finish the regular season undefeated and ranked No. 1 before losing to Florida in the SEC championship game.
2. Alabama 32, Florida 13 (Dec. 5, 2009)
Revenge and validation was on the Crimson Tide’s collective mind as it met the defending SEC and national champions in Atlanta a year after the Gators have come away with a 31-20 victory in 2008. Tim Tebow and No. 1 Florida kept it close for two quarters, but No. 2 Alabama’s defense shut the Gators out in the second half. Mark Ingram ran for 113 yards and three touchdowns, locking up his bid to become the Crimson Tide’s first-ever Heisman Trophy winner. The victory marked Alabama as a blossoming dynasty and put the Crimson Tide within one victory of its first national championship in 17 years.
3. Alabama 37, Texas 21 (Jan. 7, 2010)
After the win over the Gators, the Crimson Tide made its triumphant return four weeks later to Pasadena, the site of so many glorious Rose Bowl victories in the program’s early days. The opponent in the BCS national championship game was undefeated Texas, a team Alabama had never beaten up to that point in its history. The Crimson Tide knocked Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy out of the game early with an injury, and streaked to a 24-6 halftime lead. Texas backup quarterback Garrett Gilbert helped make things close in the fourth quarter, but a strip-sack by linebacker Eryk Anders set up Ingram’s short touchdown run and Alabama was national champions for the first time since 1992.
4. Alabama 21, LSU 0 (Jan. 9, 2012)
Rarely in college football does a team get a mulligan after a regular-season loss at home, but that’s the position Alabama found itself in after losing 9-6 in overtime to LSU in the so-called “Game of the Century” in Tuscaloosa in November 2011. The Tigers stayed unbeaten and second-ranked Oklahoma State lost a Friday night stunner to lowly Iowa State, allowing Alabama to sneak back in and claim the second spot in the final BCS standings. The rematch in New Orleans for the national championship was non-competitive, as Alabama kept LSU from even crossing the 50-yard line until the second half. Trent Richardson’s long touchdown run punctuated a dominant effort by the Crimson Tide, which secured its second national title in three years.
5. Alabama 32, Georgia 28 (Dec. 1, 2012)
The first of four classic SEC championship games between Alabama and Georgia during the Saban era nearly got away from the Crimson Tide when the Bulldogs returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown to take a 21-10 lead in the third quarter. But Alabama stormed back with two touchdowns to go up 25-21 early in the fourth, only to see Georgia again take the lead at 28-25 less than two minutes later. McCarron hit Amari Cooper on a 45-yard touchdown with 3:15 remaining to give Alabama the lead for good at 32-28, but the Crimson Tide still needed a defensive stand to win. With the ball on the 8-yard line and 5 seconds remaining, Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley tipped Aaron Murray’s pass into the hands of Georgia receiver Chris Conley near the goal line. Conley could not keep his feet, however, and fell down inbounds as the clock expired. Alabama went on to beat another overmatched opponent in the BCS national championship game (this time Notre Dame, 42-14) to win its second straight title and third in four years.
6. Alabama 55, Auburn 44 (Nov. 29, 2014)
The highest scoring Iron Bowl in history was a true shootout, with the two teams combining for nearly 100 points and more than 1,000 yards of total offense at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Nick Marshall and 15th-ranked Auburn led 33-21 early in the third quarter and 36-27 late in the same period before No. 1 Alabama scored four consecutive touchdowns — including Blake Sims’ 75-yard pass to Amari Cooper and Derrick Henry’s 25-yard run — to avenge the “Kick Six” loss at Jordan-Hare Stadium the previous year. Cooper, the SEC Player of the Year that season, had a monster day with 13 receptions for 227 yards and two scores. Alabama — which had lost at Ole Miss early in the season — beat Missouri in the SEC championship game to earn a spot in the first-ever College Football Playoff. The Crimson Tide lost to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl semifinal game to finish 12-2.
7. Alabama 45, Clemson 40 (Jan. 11, 2016)
The first of three national championship game matchups between the Crimson Tide and Tigers was the only one that went Alabama’s way, and it was a dandy. Quarterback Jake Coker and Henry — that season’s Heisman Trophy winner — both had big games for the Crimson Tide, but it was tight end O.J. Howard who was the breakout performer with five catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns. Still, Alabama needed a pair of huge special teams plays to secure the win. First came a perfectly executed onside kick — kicked by Adam Griffith and recovered by Marlon Humphrey — to set up Howard’s second touchdown to give Alabama the lead for good with 9:45 left in the game. Then came Kenyan Drake’s 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 7:31 left, which put the Crimson Tide on top by two scores. With his fifth national championship — fourth at Alabama — Saban reached a plateau only three men before him at the major-college level (Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant, Minnesota’s Bernie Bierman and Ohio State’s Woody Hayes) had achieved.
8. Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (Jan. 8, 2018)
The only walk-off national championship win of the modern era moved Saban into a tie with Bryant for most national championships of any coach in history (6). Once again, the Crimson Tide slipped back into the national championship picture through something of a back door, losing to Auburn in the regular-season finale but earning the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff after the Tigers dropped the SEC championship game to Georgia a week later. In the title game, Saban made the bold call to bench quarterback Jalen Hurts at halftime in favor of Tua Tagovailoa. The freshman validated his coach’s decision, leading Alabama back from down 13-0 to force overtime. The Crimson Tide missed a field goal on the final play of regulation, then Tagovailoa was sacked for a 16-yard loss on Alabama’s first play of overtime after Georgia had taken the lead with a field goal. Undaunted, Tagovailoa flung the ball deep to fellow freshman DeVonta Smith, who outran two Bulldogs defenders and hauled in the 41-yard, game- and national-championship-winning touchdown.
9. Alabama 35, Georgia 28 (Dec. 1, 2018)
For the second time in less than a calendar year, Alabama ripped out Georgia’s collective heart with a comeback win led by a backup quarterback in Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This time, it was the SEC championship game and it was Hurts who relieved the injured Tagovailoa with the Crimson Tide down by a touchdown with just over 11 minutes to go. Hurts led top-ranked Alabama to a pair of touchdowns — his 10-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Jeudy to tie the game and his 15-yard run to win it with 1:04 to play — and a 35-28 victory. It was the kind of selfless, team-first effort that coaches and football fans dream about, and it made Hurts into an Alabama football icon for life despite the fact he transferred to Oklahoma after the season. The Crimson Tide went on to beat the Sooners in the College Football Playoff semifinals before getting blasted by Clemson 44-16 in the national championship game, Alabama’s most-decisive loss of the Saban era.
10. Alabama 52, Florida 46 (Dec. 19, 2020)
Alabama was essentially unchallenged in the pandemic-marred season until it faced Florida in Atlanta on the weekend before Christmas, winning every game up to that point by at least 15 points. The Gators never led in the SEC championship game, but pulled with 35-31 at the end of the third quarter. The Crimson Tide answered with 10 points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to all but put the game out of reach despite two late touchdowns for Florida. Both Mac Jones and Najee Harris scored five touchdowns apiece, but Smith’s 15 receptions for 184 yards and two scores sealed the first Heisman Trophy victory by a wide receiver in almost thirty years. After defeating Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl semifinal that year in Arlington, Texas, Alabama defeated Ohio State 52–24 in the national championship game to win its sixth and, ultimately, its final championship under head coach Nick Saban, who achieved a record-tying seventh championship. This team is widely considered as one of Saban’s best and possibly the best in SEC history.
11. Alabama 24, Auburn 22 (Nov. 27, 2021)
Of all the games the Crimson Tide has pulled out of the fire in the program’s history, few were as unlikely as the four-overtime duel with Bryan Harsin’s Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium two years ago. Auburn led 10-0 after three quarters and 10-3 with the ball near midfield after Alabama failed on fourth-and-1 with 1:56 remaining. But the The Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young led the Crimson Tide on an incredible 12-play, 97-yard drive that culminated in a 28-yard touchdown throw to JaCorey Brooks with 11 seconds remaining after the team forced a punt. The first-ever overtime Iron Bowl was the outcome of that touchdown. In the first overtime, both sides scored touchdowns; in the second, they each kicked a field goal. After that, the contest boiled down to two-point attempts, and in the third overtime, passes were successfully completed by Auburn’s T.J. Finley and Young. After Finley’s effort in the fourth overtime period went wildly wrong, Young hit John Metchie for two points and the game-winning basket. The next week, Alabama defeated Georgia for the SEC championship before falling to the Bulldogs in a rematch of the national championship game.
12. Alabama 27, Georgia 24 (Dec. 2, 2023)
What wound up being Saban’s final victory as Alabama coach ended Georgia’s 29-game winning streak and served as a reminder that the Crimson Tide was still the program to beat in the SEC. Alabama took the lead for well, scoring two touchdowns in the second quarter, the second coming from quarterback Jalen Milroe’s 15-yard pass to former Georgia receiver Jermaine Burton. With 10:16 remaining, Carson Beck’s 1-yard touchdown run brought top-ranked Georgia within three points, 20–17, but Alabama responded with a 75-yard march in just over four minutes, and Roydell Williams’ 1-yard run at 5:47 sealed the victory. The win was sufficient to move the Crimson Tide past Florida State, which had not yet lost, and into the College Football Playoffs as the No. 4 seed. On New Year’s Day, the team fell 27-20 in overtime to eventual national champion Michigan in the Rose Bowl semifinal. After nine days, Saban declared his resignation.
Honorable mention
Here are six other games that very nearly made our list:
Alabama 26, Auburn 21 (2009)
Alabama 21, LSU 17 (2012)
Alabama 42, Notre Dame 14 (2013)
Alabama 49, Texas A&M 42 (2013)
Alabama 52, Ohio State 24 (2021)
Alabama 27, Auburn 24 (2023)
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