A recent tweet jogged memory. The memory of the ‘so much’ Nick Saban has achieved with Alabama football. It said, not since 2007, has the Crimson Tide lost to an unranked team. That is no small thing.
Preparing players and teams for big games is not easy. Getting them up for lesser opponents is much harder. Talent disparities alone are enough to win most of those games. But winning all of them is an underappreciated achievement.
In Nick Saban’s first season, Alabama football lost to three unranked teams. In that six-loss season, the Crimson Tide lost to unranked Florida State, Mississippi State and Louisiana-Monroe.