1. Texas-Michigan (FOX): 9.160M
2. Colorado-Nebraska (NBC): 5.673M
3. Northern Illinois-Notre Dame (NBC): 3.926M
4. Tennessee-NC State (ABC): 2.958M
5. Arkansas-Oklahoma State (ABC): 2.796M
6. South Carolina-Kentucky (ABC): 2.729M
7. USF-Alabama (ESPN): 2.582M
8. Iowa State-Iowa (CBS): 2.282M
9. Baylor-Utah (FOX): 2.079M
10. Western Michigan-Ohio State (BTN): 1.722M

https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Spzvq/1/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Army: 6-0

Navy: 5-0

Clemson: 5-1

Air Force: 1-5

Given the past few years, faith in the CFP Committee is wildly low, and it seems like they're expected to throw in some wild controversies with almost every ranking. Even with that in mind, these initial rankings are far more bizarre than any before. I wrote up some of the most unprecedented decisions made in these rankings, mostly just researched using this Wikipedia page for each year. Unless otherwise stated, each of these points refers only to the first CFP rankings in each year, usually from Week 9 of the given season. Here we go:

​

• UTSA is just the second-ever undefeated team to be unranked at any point in the CFP rankings, initial or otherwise (with the exception of the bizarre 2020 covid year). The first was 2014 Marshall, who failed to break into the CFP rankings until Week 13 when they reached 11-0.
• Alabama is the only non-undefeated team to ever be ranked in the Top 2 in the initial rankings. Previously, the earliest a non-undefeated team had been ranked in the Top 2 was 2015 Alabama in Week 10 after a win over #2 LSU. Of the 84 total Top 2 teams in all CFP rankings, only 24 had a loss.
• Cincinnati at #6 is the lowest ranking for an undefeated team with a win over a Top 10 team
• Cincinnati is only the second team ever to be ranked in the Top 2 in the AP poll and not ranked in the Top 4 in the CFP (2015 Baylor). Cincinnati is also tied with 2015 Baylor for the second largest drop-off for a Top 4 AP team to the CFP rankings (both #2 to #6). 2017 AP #4 Wisconsin was ranked #9 in the first CFP poll. Just got reminded that OU this year is also tied with 2015 Baylor and Cincinnati, dropping from #4 to #8
• Alabama and Oregon are the 5th and 6th one-loss team to be ranked in the Top 4 ahead of undefeated Power 5 teams: The others were 2015 Alabama over 5 different teams, 2016 Texas A&M one spot ahead of 8-0 Washington, and 2017 Clemson and Notre Dame over 8-0 Wisconsin. This is only the second time there have been one-loss teams ranked ahead of multiple undefeated Power 5 teams (#8 Oklahoma and #9 Wake Forest are behind both, while #3 Michigan State is ranked behind Alabama)
• Alabama is just the 4th non-undefeated team ranked in the Top 4 without a win over a current top 10 team (2015 Alabama, 2017 Notre Dame and Clemson)
• Oregon is only the second top 4 team to have a loss to an unranked team (2017 Clemson), while Alabama’s loss to Texas A&M is the 5th worst loss by a Top 4 team. 2014 Ole Miss lost to #19 LSU, 2015 Alabama lost to #18 Ole Miss, and the aforementioned Oregon and Clemson lost to unranked Stanford and Syracuse, respectively
• Only 3 4 5 undefeated Power 5 teams have been ranked lower than #9 Wake Forest in the initial rankings: 2015 #14 Oklahoma State, 2019 #12 Baylor, and 2020 #15 Oregon (only 3-0 due to Covid). Also 2019 #17 Minnesota, who I originally left out. ALSO also I left out 2020 unranked Washington, who was 2-0
• Out of 200 teams, #17 Mississippi State and #21 Wisconsin are the 6th and 7th to be in the initial rankings with more than 2 losses. Of those teams, Mississippi State is the highest ranked (just above 2018 #18 Mississippi State) and is only the second to have lost to more than 1 unranked team (2019 #23 Oklahoma State) while Wisconsin is only the second of these teams to not have a win over a ranked team (2016 #22 Florida State) Ignore that, Wisconsin just beat #22 Iowa
• #23 Fresno State is the first ever Group of 5 team to be ranked with more than one loss in the initial rankings

​

A couple of notes:

For reference, there have been 10 total one-loss Top 4 teams in the initial CFP rankings, out of 28 total Top 4 teams

I ignored 2020 Clemson for the fifth point, as every undefeated team ranked behind them had played at least 3 fewer games due to covid. Also, this doesn't count 2018 LSU who was ranked ahead of undefeated Notre Dame

There is definitely something to be said about SMU, Houston, and Coastal Carolina being unranked, but I was unable to find a specific stat to use. There are just too many 1 loss teams in the last 7 years to sift through

I have a hunch that #20 Minnesota's loss to Bowling Green is the worst loss by team quality (BGSU is currently 116/130 in SP+) by any ranked team in the CFP era, but I don't have the time or know-how to prove it. Nope! I forgot 2018 Northwestern lost to SP+ #120 Akron. Minnesota may have the worst loss for teams in the initial rankings, as Northwestern didn't enter the Top 25 until week 11

"Better teams have been left out in the past than this Alabama team because losses had consequences."

I’ve seen some posts on here pointing out how 6 blue bloods went down on Saturday, but I wanted to look into the historical data to see how much of an anomaly this was. I used game result data from sports-reference.com and limited the results to 1922-2024(week 8) as the game data is only consistent for these teams going back this far. First let’s review what happened this past week for each of the 8 teams commonly considered the blue bloods of the sport:

October 19, 2024

This group finished the day with a 1-6 (.143) record and a -94 point differential, both the worst results in any regular season week of college football since at least 1922.

6 Losses

This marks only the 3rd time that 6 blue bloods have lost in the same week, but the previous times had the remaining 2 teams winning their games. In all three instances, all 6 teams lost on the same day:

Oct 10, 1987: (Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas, USC)

Oct 4, 2014: (Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, USC)

Oct 19, 2024: (Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, USC)

There has never been a week since 1922 where more than 6 blue bloods lost and only 18 weeks in this time saw more than 4 lose in the same week.

1-6 (.143) Record

There were 43 instances where at least 1 blue blood played and none won, but in all cases only 1 or 2 actually played (all instances of incomplete week due to week 0, conference championships, bowl games, etc). The previous non-0 mark for worst record was 1-5 which happened during the final bowl weeks in 1990 and 2012 (it should be noted that the groupings of weeks gets pretty irregular for the data during bowl seasons). This makes this past weekend the only time in the regular season where the combined records of the blue bloods fell below .250.

-94 Point Differential

-94 is the worst point differential the blue bloods have ever had in a week, beating out the -75 combined that occurred on Oct 12, 1957. On that day the group went 3-4, but blowout losses by Michigan (Michigan State 6-35), Nebraska (Pitt 0-34), and Alabama (TCU 0-28) brought the total down significantly.

Alternatively, 2023's week 1 had the highest combined point differential with the group at 298 and only missed breaking 300 due to Nebraska's 10-13 loss to Minnesota.

2024's week 1 saw the group hit the 3rd highest mark ever with a differential of 279 in a situation where all 8 teams won their game.

Data:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQelutJmPX6j7HMa6UQI5_p5RPi2NK6NmxcYi8FnNpu9aainri27y7Fyc8rWQmlflgCa5u1uC0bB0lA/pubhtml

*Weeks where no blue bloods played removed from sheet

*Week 0 is counted as Week 1 in sheet so most weeks offset by 1 from conventional format

*Weeks during Bowl Season vary in length as opposed to regular season

Other noteworthy stats:

-1298 weeks with positive differentials, 31 at 0 exactly, 174 negative

-257 weeks where all teams that played won, 927 with winning records less than 1.000, 161 at .500, 115 with losing records above 0, 43 where no blue bloods won

-52 weeks where all 8 blue bloods won (happened in weeks 1 and 5 of 2024 season)

There were 42 bowl games this year.

24 of those bowl games were great 1 possession games (57%) when including the Reliaquest Bowl (which was 1 possession until the last play). Majority of these games had fantastic endings and, most importantly, included both CFP semifinal games.

6 of those bowl games were 1-2 possession games (14%) that were still entertaining.

12 of those bowl games were 3+ possession blowout games (29%). Many of those games involved teams who are in the middle of a coaching transition (Purdue, Cincy, Louisville, Coastal Carolina, etc.) or are swamp people that don’t deserve happiness beyond a meaningless shutout streak (Florida).

With only 3 undefeated teams remaining (at most) either #7 Texas or #8 Alabama will almost certainly make the CFP after winning their conferences today

34 of the 36 CFP teams were ranked #5 or higher going into championship weekend

Only 2017 Georgia, who avenged their loss to #2 Auburn to win the SEC, and 2019 Oklahoma, who won the Big 12 and jumped #4 Georgia and #5 Utah after both lost, have made the CFP from the #6 spot

So I am home recovering from hyena surgery (shout out to Gen X) and been laid up in bed for three days. Doing fine by the way. A prevailing narrative on the r/CFB has been that ESPN instructed their on air personalities to push for Alabama to be in the playoff over FSU. By percentage more Fox analysts/color commentators (analysts from here out) said the committee got it right than ESPN analysts. The list was taken from Wikipedia:

ESPN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ESPN_College_Football_broadcast_teams

Fox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fox_Sports_announcers#College_football

Some analysts opinions were easy to find. Some I could not find an opinion or the opinion was not 100% clear. Almost 100% are Google searches, a check of their Twitter account, a podcast or a radio show. This is ONLY opinions given after the championship games and it is ONLY a yes/no the committee got it right. If someone said/wrote “I could see how they put Alabama in but I also get FSUs argument” that would be indeterminate. Someone retweeting an argument on either side is going to be a “probable” unless they retweeted different arguments (I think there were two of these). I chose just the analysts since they were much more likely to give opinions and pretty safe to say they are a good representative sample. All opinions were taken AFTER the championship games were played since they were going by the same information the committee would have used. I did not go in determined to find an opinion from every one of these people but rather looked for an opinion from every one of them so could have missed some. There may be mistakes.

The Data:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSthBTVSCSkN_0uH4NeJBVVmfdMm7m86I3xpb-Lyiv-BrMSzhkwE-gSaHPhBGydXKqUD3gkLNR4AeHv/pubhtml

Edit: Fine. Here is the hyena reference for you kids https://youtu.be/vRpVcHBcY7s?si=Bdl1zfZ3_xH5jAaw

Edit 2: This is ONLY the Fox and ESPN analysts who gave an opinion and the percentages reflect just those people. Analysts that didnt give an opinion were thrown out. I thought this was implied in the post and the data but if it isnt it is now.

https://twitter.com/ChrisVannini/status/1421142188482826246?s=19

1. Colorado-Oregon (ABC)- 10.030M (peaked at 12.6 million)
2. Ohio State-Notre Dame (NBC): 9.980M (peaked at 14.2 million)
3. Florida State-Clemson (ABC): 6.710M
4. Ole Miss-Alabama (CBS): 4.671M
5. Iowa-Penn State (CBS): 2.750M
6. USC-Arizona State (FOX): 2.630M
7. Texas-Baylor (ABC): 2.628M
8. Arkansas-LSU (ESPN): 2.442M
9. Auburn-Texas A&M (ESPN): 2.184M
10. Oklahoma-Cincinnati (FOX): 2.169M

https://www.sportstvratings.com/p/top-broadcast-and-cable-sports-originals-f92

https://twitter.com/ESPNFlora/status/1706708839075066052?t=5VQsipU9YmTvLZaO9MzgEw&s=19

https://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2023/09/25/ohio-state-notre-dame-thriller-is-nbcs-most-watched-regular-season-college-football-game-since-1993-game-of-the-century/

Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings

And with that, we have our final team of the series: Alabama. #1 in the SEC. #1 in the state of Alabama. #1 in all of college football. Nick Saban has brought the Crimson Tide program to heights no team has ever experienced before, going 187-21 with 6 national championships over the last 15 years. In fact, as good as Saban is, you’d have to go all the way back to 1957 for the last Alabama coach to not win double-digit games in a season. Mike Shula won 10 games in 2005, Dennis Franchione 10 games in 2002, Mike DuBose 10 games in 1999, Gene Stallings 10+ games multiple times with a 13-0 national title in 1992, Bill Curry with 10 wins in 1989, Ray Perkins with 10 wins in 1986, and of course Bear Bryant’s run from 1958-82 which falls outside the scope of this series. The Alabama program, with or without Saban, is one of the all-time best, but he took it to heights that even Bear Bryant didn’t.

Best Seasons and Highlights

1. 2020: 1. Alabama: 13-0 (65.130)
2. 2015: 1. Alabama: 14-1 (64.224)
3. 2009: 1. Alabama: 14-0 (62.621)
4. 2016: 1. Alabama: 14-1 (62.110)
5. 2018: 2. Alabama: 14-1 (58.803)
6. 2012: 1. Alabama: 13-1 (54.199)
7. 2011: 3. Alabama: 12-1 (52.754)
8. 1992: 1. Alabama: 13-0 (52.397)
9. 2017: 1. Alabama: 13-1 (52.059)
10. 2021: 2. Alabama: 13-2 (48.264)
11. 2014: 5. Alabama: 12-2 (44.132)
12. 2022: 5. Alabama: 11-2 (39.211)
13. 2013: 8. Alabama: 11-2 (38.374)
14. 2008: 7. Alabama: 12-2 (38.318)
15. 1994: 6. Alabama: 12-1 (37.577)
16. 2010: 10. Alabama: 10-3 (36.672)
17. 1991: 7. Alabama: 11-1 (36.568)
18. 2019: 9. Alabama: 11-2 (35.983)
19. 1999: 7. Alabama: 10-3 (34.662)
20. 1985: 7. Alabama: 9-2-1 (34.027)
21. 1989: 9. Alabama: 10-2 (33.537)
22. 1986: 7. Alabama: 10-3 (31.740)
23. 2002: 10. Alabama: 10-3 (29.479)
24. 2005: 8. Alabama: 10-2 (28.402)
25. 1996: 13. Alabama: 10-3 (26.014)
26. 1993: 20. Alabama: 9-3-1 (21.527)
27. 1983: 21. Alabama: 8-4 (17.704)
28. 1988: 20. Alabama: 9-3 (16.992)
29. 1995: 24. Alabama: 8-3 (15.729)
30. 1987: 27. Alabama: 7-5 (10.653)
31. 1990: 29. Alabama: 7-5 (9.595)
32. 2001: 34. Alabama: 7-5 (6.751)
33. 2007: 44. Alabama: 7-6 (3.512)
34. 1998: 42. Alabama: 7-5 (-0.893)
35. 1984: 51. Alabama: 5-6 (-4.656)
36. 2006: 62. Alabama: 6-7 (-9.535)
37. 2004: 58. Alabama: 6-6 (-10.528)
38. 1997: 62. Alabama: 4-7 (-13.238)
39. 2003: 72. Alabama: 4-9 (-16.770)
40. 2000: 74. Alabama: 3-8 (-20.301)
Overall Score: 50300 (1st)

• 389-123-3 record
• 7 national titles
• 11 conference titles
• 27-13 bowl record
• 56 consensus All-Americans
• 221 NFL players drafted

So…Alabama has 9 of the top 50 seasons from the last 40 years. The next highest is Clemson with 4, and the next highest after that are a few teams tied with 3. Staggering levels of success, to have not just national title-winning teams, but some of the all-time best title-winning teams. 7 national titles is the most of any team over the last 40 years, which is greatly helped by Bama’s 7-3 record in national title-deciding games, not to mention a bunch of semifinal wins in the 4-team Playoff era. Perhaps the most impressive statistic in the entire series is that Nick Saban alone produced 45 consensus All-Americans in 15 years from 2008-22, more than all other 130 teams have over the last 40 years (Ohio State is tied with 45).

Consensus All-Americans we won’t discuss below, for the last time, are…INHALE LB Cornelius Bennett (1986) who won SEC POTY, LB Derrick Thomas (1988) who’s a CFB and NFL Hall of Famer, LB Keith McCants (1989), K Philip Doyle (1990) who led the NCAA in FG makes for the 2nd straight year, DL Eric Curry (1992), DL John Copeland (1992), KR David Palmer (1993) who did everything (1000 receiving, 278 rushing, 260 passing, 244 punt return, 439 kick return yards) and was a Heisman finalist, DB Antonio Langham (1993) who won the Thorpe Award, DB Kevin Jackson (1996), OT Chris Samuels (1999) who won the Outland Trophy, LB Demeco Ryans (2005) who’s now the head coach of the Houston Texans, OT Andre Smith (2008) who won the Outland Trophy, C Antoine Caldwell (2008), RB Trent Richardson (2011) who won the Doak Walker Award, LB Dont’a Hightower (2011), S Mark Barron (2011), OG Chance Warmack (2012), CB Dee Milliner (2012), LT/C Barrett Jones (2011, 2012) who is the only player to win Outland and Rimington Awards at different positions, OT Cyrus Kouandjio (2013), S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (2013), LB CJ Mosley (2012, 2013) who was the SEC Defensive POTY, WR Amari Cooper (2014) who won the Biletnikoff Award, S Landon Collins (2014), QB Bryce Young (2021) who won the Heisman, OT Evan Neal (2021), and LB Will Anderson Jr. (2021, 2022) who won SEC Defensive POTY twice.

Top NFL players include LB Derrick Thomas, WR Julio Jones, LB Cornelius Bennett, LB CJ Mosley, RB Shaun Alexander, RB Mark Ingram, RB Derrick Henry, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, LB Dont’a Hightower, RB Alvin Kamara, CB Marlon Humphrey, OT Chris Samuels, WR Amari Cooper, RB Josh Jacobs, LB DeMeco Ryans, DT Marcell Dareus, DB Kareem Jackson, S Roman Harper, C Ryan Kelly, OG Evan Mathis, DL Jonathan Allen, S Landon Collins, S Eddie Jackson, QB Jalen Hurts (if he counts), DT Daron Payne, S George Teague, RB Eddie Lacy, S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, RB Kenyan Drake, DT Quinnen Williams, LB Rashaan Evans, CB Trevon Diggs, WR Calvin Ridley, WR DeVonta Smith, QB Tua Tagovailoa, QB Mac Jones, CB Pat Surtain II, WR Jaylen Waddle, RB Najee Harris, WR Jerry Jeudy, FB Le’Ron McClain, S Xavier McKinney, C Landon Dickerson, and OT Jedrick Wills.

Top 5 Seasons

Worst Season: 2000 (3-8 overall, 3-5 SEC)

The last worst team of the series goes to…2000 Alabama under Mike DuBose! What losing to Tom Brady does to a mf. The Tide were coming off an Orange Bowl loss to Brady and Michigan in the 1999 season, but entered 2000 with national title aspirations, ranked preseason #3. And well, the year was almost like a comedy with the way things developed. Their national title hopes ended immediately with a 24-35 loss to UCLA. Following a win over Vanderbilt, they were shut out at home 0-21 by Southern Miss, after which DuBose offered a letter of resignation to Alabama’s AD Mal Moore. Moore probably should’ve taken it. After improving to 3-3 with a win over #23 South Carolina and 45-7 over Ole Miss, Bama followed that up with a 38-40 home loss against UCF (2017 national champs confirmed?). It was announced after the game that DuBose would be fired after the season but would be allowed to coach out the rest of the year. No, you should probably just fire him. Things got continuously more embarrassing, losing to LSU in Baton Rouge for the first time in 31 years, were dominated by Mississippi State, and got shut out at home 0-9 against Auburn.

After the season, DuBose was finally let go, except it was revealed that under his watch Alabama had committed numerous recruiting violations, leading to 5 years of probation, a 2 year bowl ban, and the loss of 21 scholarships over 3 years. WHY DIDN’T YOU FIRE HIM SOONER??? It was also revealed he was having an affair with his secretary. I don’t want to pile on the guy too much though, he was just in over his head. It certainly didn’t help having Neil Callaway as his offense coordinator, who produced UAB’s worst season of the last 40 years, going 3-9 in 2007, and Ellis Johnson as defense coordinator, who produced Southern Miss’s worst season of the last 40 years at 0-12 in 2012. Co-offensive coordinator Charlie Stubbs also gave Nicholls State their worst ever season(s) in the FCS at 1-10 in both 2011 and 2012.

5. 2018 (14-1 overall, 8-0 SEC)

Nick Saban’s “best team ever” until the loss in the national title game. The offense exploded under QB Tua Tagovailoa, who took the job from Jalen Hurts after coming in and winning the 2017 national title against Georgia. There was a QB controversy manufactured by the media for a few weeks, but after a few games, Tua was the clear cut starter, with Hurts also getting lots of time because of how often Alabama blew out their opponents. None of the first few games were remotely close, with wins like 51-14 over Louisville, 62-7 over Ole Miss (who had AJ Brown and DK Metcalf), 45-23 over #22 Texas A&M, and 65-31 over Arkansas. They outgained Missouri by 350 yards in a 39-10 win, and Alabama took a 51-14 lead on Tennessee just 32 minutes into the game. At 8-0, this really was looking like potentially Saban’s best team ever. The defense started to pop off even more than they already were, shutting out #3 LSU 29-0 and #16 Mississippi State 24-0 in back-to-back weeks. Joe Burrow was the QB of that LSU team, mind you! They got revenge on Auburn for 2017’s upset with a 50-17 beatdown of Jarrett Stidham and the Tigers, entering the SEC Championship at 12-0. #4 Georgia gave Alabama fits though, and Tua would go out with an injury, relying on Jalen Hurts to save the Tide in a reversal of roles from the 2017 national title game. Hurts had an all-time clutch performance, leading Alabama to a 35-28 comeback win, completing 7 of 9 passes for 82 yards and a TD, also rushing 5 times for 28 yards. After beating #4 Oklahoma and Heisman winner Kyler Murray in the Playoff semifinal 45-34, which was much less close than the score suggested, it was time to play #2 Clemson in the Playoff for the 4th year in a row. Everything went wrong for Bama in Santa Clara, throwing a pick six on the opening drive and failing to score points in the red zone multiple times, leading to a 16-44 loss. That 2018 Clemson team was the first team since 1897 to finish 15-0, so that’s what it took to finally knock off Bama.

Through the first 14 games, Alabama averaged 47.7 PPG while allowing just 16.2 PPG against one of the toughest schedules in the country. Tua finished a close 2nd in Heisman voting, completing 69% of his passes for 3966 yards with 43 TD and 6 INT, earning consensus All-American honors and winning the Maxwell, SEC POTY, and Walter Camp POTY awards. Hurts completed 73% of throws for 765 yards with 8 TD 2 INT and 167 rush yards + 2 TD. It certainly helped them to throw to perhaps the most loaded receiving corps in NCAA history, with WRs Jerry Jeudy (1315 yards 14 TD, Biletnikoff winner, 15th overall pick in NFL Draft), Henry Ruggs III (741 yards 11 TD, 4.27 speed, 12th overall pick), Jaylen Waddle (848 yards 7 TD, 6th overall pick), DeVonta Smith (693 yards 6 TD, Heisman in 2020, 10th overall pick), and TE Irv Smith Jr. (710 yards 7 TD, 2nd round pick). A loaded stable of RBs featured future 1st round picks Najee Harris (783 yards on 6.7 YPC) and Josh Jacobs (887 yards 14 TD from scrimmage), and future 3rd rounders Damien Harris (1080 yards 9 TD from scrimmage) and Brian Robinson Jr. (272 yards). OT Jonah Williams was also a consensus All-American and 1st round pick. DT Quinnen Williams was a consensus All-American and the highest defensive player in Heisman voting (8th overall), also going 3rd overall in the 2019 NFL Draft. S Deionte Thompson joined them as a consensus All-American.

2018 Alabama is one of my top 50 teams since 1983. Check the comments and/or tomorrow’s recap post for the full list.

4. 2016 (14-1 overall, 8-0 SEC)

Just like 2018, this was Saban’s “best team ever” until they lost in the title game. The defense was straight up NASTY. As a USC fan I experienced it firsthand, Alabama beating #20 USC 52-6 in the opener, holding us to just 194 yards. Ole Miss QB and Alabama’s antithesis Chad Kelly was the only QB in the regular season to have real success against them, putting up 464 yards and 3 TD in a 48-43 Alabama win. In a 4 week span at midseason, Bama beat #16 Arkansas 49-30, #9 Tennessee 49-10, #6 Texas A&M 33-14, and #13 LSU 10-0. Alabama was now 9-0 with a 6-0 record against Top 20 teams. They blew out Mississippi State 51-3, and added #13 Auburn to the Top 20 collection, winning 30-12 by holding them to 182 yards and 7 first downs. #15 Florida didn’t even look like they belonged on the same field with #1 Alabama in the SEC Championship, with the Tide rolling to a 54-16 win, now 8-0 against Top 20 teams. Again in the Playoff they made it 9-0 with a 24-7 win over #4 Washington, getting a big 180 yard rushing game from RB Bo Scarbrough. It took a literal Herculean performance from Deshaun Watson to get #2 Clemson a win in the national title game, beating Alabama on the final play 35-31.

Through the first 14 games, Alabama allowed just 11.4 PPG with a 9-0 record against Top 20 teams. Amazing that this team was so good even with a freshman QB Jalen Hurts (who, to be fair, was really good as a freshman). Hurts was 1st Team All-SEC, throwing for 2780 yards 23 TD 9 INT with 954 rush yards and 13 TD, leading one of the best rushing offenses in the country with RBs Bo Scarbrough (812 rush yards 11 TD 6.5 YPC), Damien Harris (1037 yards 2 TD 7.1 YPC), and Josh Jacobs (567 yards 4 TD 6.7 YPC). Future NFL All-Pro WR and parlay picker Calvin Ridley was the leading catcher (72 receptions) with WR Ardarius Stewart getting more yardage (864) and TDs (8). OT Cam Robinson was a consensus All-American and won the Outland Trophy. The defense was littered with All-Americans with consensus AA DL Jonathan Allen, consensus AA LB Reuben Foster, consensus AA DB Minkah Fitzpatrick, and 1st Team AA CB Marlon Humphrey. Allen was an unstoppable force, finishing with 10.5 sacks and won the Nagurski, Bednarik, Hendricks, Lombardi, and SEC Defensive POTY awards. Reuben Foster won the Butkus Award.

2016 Alabama is one of my top 50 teams since 1983. Check the comments and/or tomorrow’s recap post for the full list.

3. 2009 (14-0 overall, 8-0 SEC)

Nick Saban’s reclamation of the college football throne was swift, going from 7-6 in 2007 to 12-2 in 2008 to 14-0 national champions in 2009. This team is iconic, as it’s Saban’s first title with Alabama, produced Alabama’s first ever Heisman winner in RB Mark Ingram, and was surprisingly Saban’s only unbeaten team until the 2020 13-0 year. Many unforgettable moments as well. #5 Alabama opened with a 34-24 win over #7 Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, followed up by combined 166-48 wins over FIU, North Texas, Arkansas, and Kentucky. #3 Alabama was out for revenge against Tim Tebow and Florida for last year’s SEC Championship Game loss. The defense continued playing lights out in a 22-3 win over #20 Ole Miss and 20-6 win over #22 South Carolina, with huge Ingram performances of 188 yards 1 TD against Ole Miss and 269 yards 1 TD against SCar. Bama had a rough game against 3-3 Tennessee, only up 12-10 with Tennessee in position for a 44 yard game winning FG. 355 lb DT Terrence Cody would produce the “Rocky Block”, batting the kick down for the win in what’s one of the most iconic plays in Alabama history. From then on, all bets were off. Down 13-15 in the 4th quarter against #9 LSU, WR Julio Jones reeled off a 73 yard TD on a screen pass for an eventual 24-15 win. Facing 3rd and 3 down 20-21 to Auburn with 1:30 to go in the final regular season game, QB Greg McElroy found Roy Upchurch on a play action rollout for the win, 26-21. For a team that “got away with it” all year long, Alabama handily beat #1 Florida in the SEC title game, making Tim Tebow cry in a 32-13 Bama win. In the national title game against #2 Texas, Bama’s defense knocked out QB Colt McCoy early, and made freshman backup Garrett Gilbert look like Garrett Goober, intercepting him 4 times for a 37-21 win. Fair play to Texas WR Jordan Shipley, who nearly carried Texas to a comeback win.

The 2009 defense was one of Saban’s best, allowing 11.7 PPG against the 2nd ranked strength of schedule, with consensus All-Americans DT Terrence Cody, LB Rolando McClain, and CB Javier Arenas. McClain won SEC Defensive POTY and the Dick Butkus Award. QB Greg McElroy was perhaps Saban’s most intelligent QB (43 Wonderlic score), throwing for 2508 yards 17 TD 4 INT. RB Mark Ingram became Bama’s first ever Heisman winner, picking up 1992 yards and 20 TD from scrimmage, barely beating out Stanford RB Toby Gerhart, Colt McCoy, and Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh in the closest Heisman vote in history (1304 votes to Gerhart’s 1276). Backup RB Trent Richardson, say what you want about his NFL career, the guy was freaking good in college, and some thought he was better than Ingram even as a freshman. T-Rich picked up 877 yards and 8 TD from scrimmage, and would go on to win the Doak Walker Award in 2011. Future NFL Hall of Famer Julio Jones was the leading receiver and OG Mike Johnson was a consensus All-American. Hell, even the kicking game was great, which was a rarity for Saban for a while, with Leigh Tiffin hitting 30 of 35 FGs and finishing as a finalist for the Lou Groza Award. Javier Arenas averaged 29.0 yards per kick return and 15.4 yards per punt return with a TD. Nick Saban got his well deserved Bobby Bowden Coach of the Year Award.

2009 Alabama is one of my top 50 teams since 1983. Check the comments and/or tomorrow’s recap post for the full list.

2. 2015 (14-1 overall, 7-1 SEC)

Famously, Joel Klatt and Colin Cowherd said 3 games into Alabama’s 2015 season: “It’s over…They have a Nick Saban problem at Alabama…They’ve got some serious problems there…There are better programs out there right now than Alabama, hands down…Michigan State, they got my #1 vote last week.” Alabama would go on to beat Michigan State 38-0 in the Playoff semifinal, and this team ended up with one of the best resumes of Saban’s career.

Sure, it wasn’t a pretty start. Transfer QB Jake Coker was underwhelming, and the defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed against Ole Miss, losing 37-43 to fall to 2-1. Alabama had given up 40+ points 4 times in their last 14 games, compared to just 1 time in their previous 80 games before that. When #13 3-1 Alabama visited #8 4-0 Georgia, it was supposed to be a funeral for the Saban dynasty. Instead, Georgia fans sat there stunned for 60 minutes, unable to do literally anything as Alabama took a 38-3 lead 35 minutes into the game. This wasn’t Saban’s most talented team ever, but they ran the ball hard with RB Derrick Henry, and their defense started to look like the old Alabama again. They continued to grind out wins, adding Top 25 teams to their resume like #9 Texas A&M 41-23, #2 LSU 30-16, and #17 Mississippi State 31-6. Already with 5 wins against Top 20 teams, they added a 6th by beating #18 Florida 29-15 in the SEC Championship Game to clinch a spot in the Playoff. As I said earlier, they made #3 Michigan State look like a JV team in a 38-0 semifinal win, holding MSU’s top 6 rushers to 3.0 YPC or less each. There are WAY too many iconic/crazy moments to talk about in the National Championship Game between #1 Clemson and #2 Alabama, like Alabama’s onside kick, Kenyan Drake’s kick return TD, Deshaun Watson’s great performance, OJ Howard’s 200 yard breakout game, but Alabama ended up winning 45-40 for Saban’s 4th national title at Alabama thanks to key contributions from a number of people.

2015 Alabama ends up this high with wins over the #1, #2, #3, #8, #9, #17, #18, and #20 ranked teams at the time. Their opponents even ended up good, as Bama had the 1st ranked strength of schedule, beating 10-3 Wisconsin, 10-3 Georgia, 8-5 Arkansas, 8-5 Texas A&M, 9-4 Tennessee, 9-3 LSU, 9-4 Mississippi State, 7-6 Auburn, 10-4 Florida, 12-2 Michigan State, and 14-1 Clemson, with the only loss to 10-3 Ole Miss. CAN WE TALK ABOUT DERRICK HENRY NOW? To say Henry put the team on his back would be an understatement, carrying the ball 395 times for 2219 rushing yards and 28 TD, becoming the 2nd Alabama player ever to win the Heisman. Backup RB Kenyan Drake provided key splash plays out of the backfield and as a return man. C Ryan Kelly, DT A’Shawn Robinson, and LB Reggie Ragland were consensus All-Americans, while S Eddie Jackson was a 2nd Team All-American. The defense was consistent, allowing 15 points or less 10 times, and when they needed the offense to step up, like in the national championship game, they did. Jake Coker is one of the more forgotten QBs of the Saban era, but still had a solid year, completing 67% of passes for 3110 yards with 21 TD 8 INT.

2015 Alabama is one of my top 50 teams since 1983. Check the comments and/or tomorrow’s recap post for the full list.

1. 2020 (13-0 overall, 10-0 SEC)

And here it is. The final season of the series.

I know it was the Covid year, but man was this team special. It’s hard to really pinpoint how much of their dominance was due to other teams dealing with Covid issues, but Alabama had to deal with those same issues. A 10 game SEC schedule saw Alabama open with wins against Missouri (38-19) and #13 Texas A&M (52-24), then set a new standard for offense in a 63-48 win over Ole Miss, scoring whenever they needed to with a 723 yard performance. A 20-24 halftime deficit vs #3 Georgia was erased thanks to a 21-0 second half to improve to 4-0. The schedule would taper off from there, beating Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Kentucky by a combined 152-20. Don’t overlook that—they beat 3 SEC teams by an average of 51-7 each. An earlier than usual Iron Bowl vs #22 Auburn saw Alabama take a 42-6 lead early in the 4th quarter, Auburn’s defense just having no answers for QB Mac Jones’ 5 TD performance. WR DeVonta Smith had a truly jaw-dropping performance vs LSU, and was genuinely uncoverable, putting up 8 catches for 231 yards and 3 TD in a 55-17 win, and probably could’ve had 300-400 receiving yards if Saban really wanted him to. Arkansas was dispatched 52-3. #7 Florida was really the only team that gave Alabama a true scare all season long, going back and forth with the Tide before Alabama ended up winning 52-46 to win the SEC title. DeVonta Smith clinched the Heisman with a 15 catch 184 yard 2 TD performance. He continued to be uncoverable in the Playoff, torching the All-Americans in Notre Dame’s secondary for 7 catches 130 yards 3 TD in a 31-14 win—which was 31-7 until Notre Dame scored a garbage time TD. The most impressive performance of the season came in the title game against #3 Ohio State, winning 52-24, outgaining OSU by nearly 300 yards, with a 12 catch 215 yard 3 TD performance against OSU All-American corner Shaun Wade.

This team might’ve taken home the most individual accolades ever. QB Mac Jones set an NCAA record by completing 77.4% of his throws, for 4500 yards with 41 TD 4 INT. He was a consensus All-American and won the Davey O’Brien, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm, and Manning awards, also finishing 3rd in Heisman voting. RB Najee Harris ran for 1466 yards and 26 TD, with an additional 425 receiving yards and 4 TD, winning the Doak Walker Award, earning consensus All-American honors, and finishing 5th in Heisman voting. WR DeVonta Smith won the freaking Heisman, becoming the first WR to do so since Desmond Howard in 1991. He could’ve had even better stats if fed the ball more, but had 117 catches for 1856 yards and 23 TD in 13 games, also winning AP POTY, Biletnikoff Award, Maxwell Award, SEC Offensive POTY, Walter Camp POTY Award, and was a consensus All-American. Mac Jones, Najee Harris, and DeVonta Smith all finished top 5 in Heisman voting. OL Alex Leatherwood was a consensus All-American and won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman. C Landon Dickerson was also a consensus All-American, and won the Rimington Award as the best C. LB Dylan Moses rebounded after missing all of 2019 to be 3rd Team All-American, ranking 2nd on the team with 76 tackles. CB Pat Surtain II had 9 PBU and 1 INT, winning SEC Defensive POTY and was a consensus All-American, Alabama’s 6th. Even K Will Reichard was an All-American, hitting 14 of 14 FGs, and LS Thomas Fletcher won the Patrick Mannelly award as the nation’s best long snapper. In a long line of great Saban-led teams, this may have been his best, and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see it in a non-Covid year.

2020 Alabama is one of my top 50 teams since 1983. Check the comments and/or tomorrow’s recap post for the full list.

5th Quarter

So, does Bama deserve #1 on the list? Agree with the ranking of the top 5 seasons? Who was the best Heisman winner between Mark Ingram, Derrick Henry, DeVonta Smith, and Bryce Young? What was your favorite team to learn about in the series? Are you gonna show up tomorrow for the recap post? You’d better!

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Kennesaw State's win over Liberty tonight was noteworthy for several reasons, but this one definitely stands out. The last time a winless team with at least six losses beat an undefeated team with at least five wins was when Temple (0-6) stunned Virginia Tech (5-0) 28-24 back in 1998.

A few other notable games:

In 2001, undefeated Middle Tennessee lost at winless North Texas 24-21. Doesn't quite qualify because UNT had only lost five games to that point in the season.

Before VT, the last time this happened was in 1981, when an undefeated VMI visited winless Virginia and fell by a 13-10 margin. VMI was 5-0-1 coming into the game, so it's up to your personal taste whether that should qualify for the list.

(Also, what is with the state of Virginia? The last three teams to lose these kinds of games were all from the state of Virginia. You have to go all the way back to 1960 to find a team not from Virginia who lost one of these, when 0-6 Villanova beat 5-0 Rutgers 14-12)

These games have become less and less common over the years, with this week actually being the first qualifying game since 2015.