Last season for the Crimson Tide did not go as planned or as hoped. Alabama was one of the teams going into the last season that were predicted to win at all. Especially since Alabama had Tua Tagovailao returning as quarterback, Ruggs, Jeudy, and Smith as wide receivers, depth at running back, and so on. But, then injuries occurred. Before the season even started, Alabama had already endured injuries on both sides of the ball, especially on defense. Towards the end of the season, not only had the Crimson Tide lost a lot of experience and leadership on defense, they also lost their star quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, to a season ending injury. Although the 2019 Alabama Crimson Tide football team didn’t make ESPN’s list of “Our top college football teams that failed to win the national championship,” they certainly should have.
Regardless, let’s go over the three Alabama teams that should have, but didn’t, win the national championship:
(The list will be numbered in the order the appear on ESPN’s list)
12. 2016 Alabama (14-1)
“In 2016, Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide nearly went wire-to-wire for the national title despite 10 ranked opponents and a true freshman quarterback. With Jalen Hurts behind center, Bama beat eventual Rose Bowl champion USC by 46, defeated ranked Ole Miss and Arkansas on the road, and pummeled top-10-at-the-time Tennessee and Texas A&M by a combined 82-24. The Tide hung 54 points on Florida in the SEC title game, too. Two years earlier, Saban had hired Lane Kiffin to modernize his offense; this was the realized vision.
But the Tide peaked early and still had to deal with the best Clemson team of all time. Bama eased by Washington 26-7 in the Peach Bowl CFP semifinal, but Clemson corralled Hurts, played keep-away, wore the Bama defense out and prevented the Tide from winning their fifth title in seven years with a Deshaun Watson-to-Hunter Renfrow touchdown in the dying seconds.”
Alabama fans will forever remember this season, and how it ended. It was a heartbreaking ending to the national championship for Alabama fans who had witnessed Jalen Hurts take on (and beat) 10 ranked opponents as a true freshman. Going into the national title game, Alabama was undefeated. Hopes were high that Alabama could beat Clemson for the second year in a row, but Clemson qb Deshaun Watson had an incredible game, and threw a game ending touchdown to win it all.
11. 1966 Alabama (11-0)
“Books have been written about why voters chose a blemished Notre Dame team — one that famously tied fellow unbeaten Michigan State 10-10 — over an unbeaten Alabama. It is something older Bama fans will never totally get over.
What’s sometimes lost in the discussion is how good that Bama team was. The Tide scored their most points in 14 years and allowed their fewest in four. They beat John Vaught’s still-formidable Ole Miss by 10 in Jackson, survived a brutal trip to Tennessee and manhandled three other opponents that finished with winning records by a combined 81-0. Tackle Cecil Dowdy and end Ray Perkins were consensus All-Americans, and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Ken Stabler was at quarterback (though he wasn’t asked to do much). On paper, this team was better than both the 1964 and 1965 teams that the AP voted No. 1.”
This is still a debate many fans have today. Clearly put: Alabama should have been the national title in 1966. But they had won in 1964, and 1965 and I’m sure people were tired of seeing them win, something that hasn’t seem to change today. But in 1966, the Tide not only went defeated, but was a better team than the 64/65 title teams that were voted number 1 by the AP.
8. 2018 Alabama (14-1)
“Nick Saban has won five national titles at Alabama, but you could make the case that his two best teams (2016 and 2018) didn’t. With 2017 national title game hero Tua Tagovailoa at QB, the Tide outscored their first eight opponents by an average of 54-16, then shut out two great defensive teams (LSU and Mississippi State). They rolled to a nearly unchallenged 12-0 season.
Tagovailoa got hurt against Georgia in the SEC title game, but 2016-17 starter Jalen Hurts led an unlikely comeback for a 35-28 win. The Tide rolled through Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and headed to the third Bama-Clemson national title game in four years as a solid favorite. Then they blew an abundance of scoring chances, attempted the worst fake field goal of all time, threw a pick-six and got their doors blown off 44-16. That’ll knock you down the list a bit.”
This is a game Alabama fans don’t like to think about. It was a very hard game to watch. The Tide had beaten Georgia for the SEC Title and also beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl before once again facing Clemson for the National Title. No one ever imagined that Alabama would lose to Clemson by that much of a margin, given the scoring history when they two teams faced each other. Regardless, it is hands down one of Saban’s worst losses at Alabama.
There could be other Alabama teams added to this list, like the 2019 team I mentioned earlier. But when you remember that Alabama has won 17 national titles, 5 of which are under Saban, it’s hard to be too upset that three teams were close but came up short.
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