Last Saturday, the Alabama Crimson Tide racked up their 20th consecutive win after beating Texas A&M, 33-14. It’s the longest streak of coach Nick Saban’s career, and the longest active streak in the FBS.
Given the stature of teams Saban’s beaten in that stretch (11 ranked foes), there’s a rising notion that the Tide could be “unbeatable” at this juncture – their 16th claimed national championship being a formality as the 2016 season crosses the midway point.
The thing about winning streaks of any length, however, is that they’re bound to be broken sooner or later.
Take a glance at the NCAA record book and you’ll find that 12 different teams have amassed winning streaks at least 10 games longer than this one, and five of those occurred since 1950. The longest streak, by Oklahoma from 1953 to 1957, ran on for 47 games (more than twice this one). Alabama’s own longest stretch without a loss is 28 games, a mark first set from 1978 to 1980, and then equaled from 1991 to 1993.
All of those streaks ended, no matter how dominant the program, or good the coach. Saban is clearly one of the sport’s greatest coaches, given his championship pedigree. That can’t preclude him from being defeated, though. After all, he’s lost 60 times as a collegiate head coach, and 18 of those were with the Tide. Games may vary in difficulty from week to week and year to year. But at this program, with many of these players, he’s suffered a defeat within the last 14 months. Why are the Tide suddenly bound to never lose again?
Jonathan Allen looking like Superman for @AlabamaFTBL on this sack.
https://t.co/pQSLZhVbRR— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 22, 2016
Part of it is the conference they play in. The nation’s most successful and profitable league, the SEC, boasts many of the sport’s top brands, marks of history and richest boosters. To an extent, if there were a collection of teams that could beat “the best” program over the course of a 12-game regular season, you’d think it would be this one. Even in the eight-game format of the SEC’s schedule, ‘Bama is bound to face at least three or four top 25 programs. So when you (soundly) beat 11 straight ranked teams, mostly from the SEC, people are paying attention. You’re not supposed to be able to do this in that conference. The other programs are supposed to be too good.
Another large reason they’re seen as indestructible is the caliber of players that have lent to those wins. Alabama has taken home the top-rated recruiting class for six straight seasons now. They have five-star players atop the depth chart at nearly every position, and those five-stars are backed up by more five stars. Recruiting rankings haven’t been around forever, but this sort of run is unprecedented. So to some observers, if you have the best players every year, then you have the best team. This isn’t wrong. But it also doesn’t mean you can’t lose a random football game.
Then there’s five-time national championship coach Nick Saban. While the previous paragraphs are two elements forming “Alabama cannot be beaten” narratives, Saban is what puts those opinions over the top. #TheProcess has defined his tenure with the Crimson Tide, yet it’s been his ability to adapt #TheProcess that’s really won the day. In 2012, Saban openly campaigned against no-huddle spread offenses and up-tempo football. Since then, he quietly amassed the players (and Lane Kiffin) to implement principles of it within his own pro-style attack. Today, Alabama’s offense is one of the fastest in the nation, ranked 16th along with Arizona State and East Carolina.
Anyone that watched January’s College Football Playoff National Championship saw Saban spit in the face of conventional wisdom and dial up an onside kick vs. Clemson to turn the game. The risky move on paper ended up being a well-researched assumption of the Tigers’ formational habits.
#TheProcess, it ends up, isn’t about being stagnant. It’s about evolution. And the fear of what that could mean for a roster of the country’s best talent for six years running is what fuels the “unbeatable” narrative most.
Take, for instance, the fact that star safety and punt returner Eddie Jackson was lost for the season on Saturday with a fractured leg. Being without that sort of talent hampers most teams. But because of recruiting and the way Alabama’s played so aggressively on defense this year, the hole’s easily plugged with a former blue-chip commit (could be a combination of Tony Brown, Ronnie Harrison and Hootie Jones).
That interchangeable nature of players and scheme and philosophy is what’s creating an aura for Alabama. That interchange still has effects, though.
Football’s a random game, relying on teenagers, an oddly-shaped ball and human judges to dole out rulings over the outcome. Many teams loaded with elite talent have lost before, and many will lose again based on little more than luck or an off day. Ask Ohio State, another of the nation’s best teams, about how that worked out for them last week vs. Penn State. OSU still controls its destiny, but is also a one-loss team now, due largely to some special teams randomness.
Other “unbeatable” teams have suffered similar fates. From Miami at its turn-of-the-century peak, to Pete Carroll’s USC teams and Florida State’s recent run. All of those teams were wrecking crews winning 29 or more games in a row. Until they weren’t, and all not only lost, but lost on a national stage (two in the title game, one in the Playoff semifinals) in excruciating fashion.
Alabama’s road ahead still includes two potential potholes against ranked LSU and Auburn teams, a possibly ranked SEC East champion and two games in the College Football Playoff. In all, that’s seven more games. It’s seven more opportunities to extend the streak and put it among the top 20 in college football history.
But each of those games (yes, even Chattanooga) represents a chance for it to all end, too. Losing wouldn’t take away anything from what the Tide have done or can do – just like it didn’t erase the legacies of those recent-ish Miami, USC or Florida State squads either. All it would mean is that Alabama isn’t perfect. So little ever is, even if it takes a while (or as many as 47 games) to show us why not.
