Nick Saban now has seven national championships. Which were his best teams? How do all seven compare and rank?
Nick Saban National Championship Rankings
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Nick Saban is pretty good at this whole college football coaching thing.
Argue all you want about eras, all-time wins, longevity, and anything else you’d like to use when comparing and contrasting coaches, but at the very least, Saban is in the discussion of the greatest of all-time, if not the best of the bunch.
The seventh national title with this great 2020 team confirms what we already know – Saban has the machine rolling, and Alabama continues to be a force.
Which of his seven national championship teams were the best?
Personally – being a fan of killer defenses – I’d argue his 2009 and 2011 teams were the best of the lot. The 2011 D was historically amazing, and the 2009 squad had two of the most impressive wins – Florida in the SEC Championship and Texas in the BCS Championship – of the bunch, but that’s an opinion.
We can split hairs on talent, optics, and other aspects of what makes a national champion, but which ones had the toughest paths, which ones accomplished the most, and which ones had the best seasons?
The CFN Season formula just cares about numbers, schedules, point totals, and the strength of them all. All of Saban’s seven national title teams were fantastic. Here’s how they all rank according to the CFN Historical Season Formula.
7. 2011 Alabama (12-1)
All-Time Season Score: 23.1431
Defense, defense, defense, defense, defense.
The Crimson Tide D allowed fewer than 1,000 rushing yards in the 13 game season, and 302 of the 938 given up came to an option-running Georgia Southern. In all 12 other games, the Tide D allowed an average of just 53 rushing yards per outing.
That Georgia Southern team – an FCS program at the time – lost 45-21. That was the only team to score more than 14 points against Bama, who allowed fewer than 14 in ten games and fewer than ten points in eight of the 13 games.
That includes a 9-6 loss to an LSU team that would’ve been ranked among the best team seasons of all-time according to our formula had it won the national title, and a 21-0 win over those Tigers in the BCS Championship. This team beat everyone but LSU in that first game by 16 or more.
However, but SEC standards the schedule was just okay. It destroyed a terrific Arkansas team, but that was the only Elite Win – a win over a team with two losses or fewer, or on the road against a team with three or fewer losses – until the national championship, and the team didn’t play for the SEC Championship.
Nick Saban National Championship Season Ranking
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6
CFN Historical Season Formula
NEXT: Ranking Nick Saban’s National Championship Teams: No. 6
6. 2003 LSU (13-1)
All-Time Season Score: 24.1386
It’s not LSU’s fault, but it split the national title with USC. The Tigers won the Coaches championship and the Trojans won the AP version. It was still an impressive team – and, according to the CFN Historical Season Formula, LSU was far more deserving.
LSU lost to Florida 19-7, but that was the only blip with two wins over Georgia – rolling the Dawgs 34-13 in the SEC Championship – and took down Oklahoma 21-14 in the Sugar Bowl.
It was a Nick Saban team with a defense that dominated everyone, allowing fewer than 20 points in 13 of the 14 games with the one outlier a 55-24 win over Arkansas. Only the Hogs and Gators came up with more than 14 points against this brick wall.
Nick Saban National Championship Season Ranking
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 7
CFN Historical Season Formula
NEXT: Ranking Nick Saban’s National Championship Teams: No. 5
5. 2017 Alabama (13-1)
All-Time Season Score: 26.6286
Easily the weakest of all the College Football Playoff era national championship seasons – and that’s among all teams – the Tide lost to Auburn, didn’t win its own division, and caught a massive break when an unbeaten Wisconsin lost the Big Ten Championship to Ohio State on the final drive.
But when it got into the CFP … boom.
To be fair, Bama beat eight teams that finished with a winning record, destroyed Clemson in the CFP semifinal, and pulled off the epic finish when Tua Tagovailoa hit DeVonta Smith on a 2nd-and-26 touchdown pass to beat Georgia for the national title.
As good as the offense was, this was still a Nick Saban defense. It allowed ten points or fewer in nine of the 14 games, finished No. 1 in the nation in total D, No. 1 in scoring D, and No. 1 against the run.
Nick Saban National Championship Season Ranking
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 6 | No. 7
CFN Historical Season Formula
NEXT: Ranking Nick Saban’s National Championship Teams: No. 4
4. 2012 Alabama (13-1)
All-Time Season Score: 26.818
Oh that Johnny Manziel.
He was able to go off in the amazing 29-24 Texas A&M win over the Crimson Tide late in the season, but everything else worked in 2012 for Bama with the nation’s top defense that allowed just under 11 points per game.
How amazing was this D? LSU finished second in the nation giving up 261.5 yards per game. Alabama allowed 183.6.
The Tide survived in the final moments against Georgia in the SEC Championship, and then obliterated Notre Dame 42-14 for the national title in the BCS Championship.
Along the way it started the season with a blowout win over Michigan, blew out a strong Mississippi State team, and got this high in the Season Rankings because of the tremendous 389-point differential, beating teams by an average score of 39 to 11
Nick Saban National Championship Season Ranking
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7
CFN Historical Season Formula
NEXT: Ranking Nick Saban’s National Championship Teams: No. 3
3. 2020 Alabama (13-0)
All-Time Season Score: 27.2800
Had Alabama been able to play a normal slate of 15 games – a 12-game regular season, an SEC Championship, and two College Football Playoff games – it still would’ve taken a push to get to the top spot, but it likely would’ve been really, really close.
This was just the second unbeaten national championship of Nick Saban’s seven, and in a year full of toughness and hardship, it turned out to be his easiest season – at least in terms of on-field drama.
The offense was unstoppable, averaging over 48 points per game and without a whole lot of drama on the field. There weren’t any close games outside of the SEC Championship against Florida – and Bama would’ve been in the College Football Playoff even with a loss – with the team taking its foot off the gas in the games it didn’t score in the 50s.
The other problem with the ranking in this formula was how the schedule was formatted. In a normal year, most of the SEC opponents would’ve had better records thanks to their non-conference slates, but Bama also would’ve had some easy wins – like against UT Martin – to bring things slightly down.
Nick Saban National Championship Season Ranking
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7
CFN Historical Season Formula
NEXT: Ranking Nick Saban’s National Championship Teams: No. 2
2. 2009 Alabama (14-0)
All-Time Season Score: 30.100
It was Nick Saban’s first and only unbeaten national championship before the 2020 run, and this might have been his most dominant defense ever.
The 2011 version was a wee bit more consistently amazing, but the 2009 team allowed just 164 points on the season, beat an unbeaten national champion Florida – with Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer, and a loaded squad on both sides – 32-13 for the SEC Championship, and stopped a 13-0 Texas team led by Colt McCoy for the BCS Championship.
There were a few fights along the way – Auburn made it fun in a 26-21 Tide win, and the 12-10 victory over Tennessee was way too tight – but Bama ended up beating ten teams that finished with winning records and turned it on when it absolutely had to at the end.
The only thing missing was the offense that the best Nick Saban national championship team of all-time brought.
Nick Saban National Championship Season Ranking
No. 1 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7
CFN Historical Season Formula
NEXT: Ranking Nick Saban’s National Championship Teams: No. 1
1. 2015 Alabama (14-1)
All-Time Season Score: 32.4233
You want to talk about a gauntlet of a schedule?
Bama lost in a wild 43-37 shootout against Ole Miss early on, with a miraculous finish needed to put the game away. That was a loaded Rebel team that won ten games and whacked a fantastic Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl.
Including Charleston Southern – who doesn’t count in the CFN Historical Season Formula as anything more than a win, since it’s an FCS team – 2015 Alabama ended up beating 13 teams that finished with a winning record, and ULM was the only team it played that didn’t come up with a winning campaign.
To take this even further, a ridiculous 12 of the 15 games were against teams that finished with nine wins or more, ten of the 15 were against teams that finished with nine wins or more, and seven of those teams finished with ten wins or more.
Other than a tough 19-14 win over Tennessee, Bama didn’t have too many issues after the Ole Miss loss, pushed past Florida in the SEC Championship, steamrolled over Michigan State 38-0 in the CFP semifinal, and hung on against Deshaun Watson ant Clemson in an epic national championship.
Nick Saban National Championship Season Ranking
No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7
CFN Historical Season Formula
NEXT: CFN Historical Season Formula
CFN Historical Season Formula
1. Wins. Obviously, winning matters. Just win lots of games, and all is fine. 1 point per win.
2. Losses. Don’t lose. -1 point per loss
3. Ties. Yeah, there used to be those. 0.5 points per tie.
4. Quality Wins. The wins over the good teams. 1 point per win over a team that finished with a winning record.
5. Elite Wins. The wins over the great teams. 1 point per home win over a team that finished with two losses, or a road, bowl, or neutral site win over a team that finished with three losses. An extra 0.5 added to a road win over a team that finished with two losses.
6. Bad Losses. The soul-crushers. -1 point per loss to a non-FBS/D-I team, or a team that finished with three wins or fewer. An extra 0.5 is added to a home loss to a “bad” team.
7. Bad Wins. The layups. -0.25 for a win over a team that finished with three wins2 or fewer.
8. Elite Losses. The forgivable defeats. 0.25 added for a loss to a team that finished with two losses of fewer.
9. Point Differential. They keep score for a reason. Points scored minus points against divided by 100.
10. Winning Percentage. A sort of tie-breaker, taking into account how good the season was beyond the raw wins and loss.
Nick Saban National Championship Season Ranking
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7
