re: Matt Leinart settles debate of best team ever

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In fact, the only team we faced with more than one starter out was LSU, IIRC.

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I love when insecure Bama fans make up facts to try to prop up their Covid champs, lol.

Ohio State down 3 starters vs. Bama

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In fact, the only team we faced with more than one starter out was LSU, IIRC. SummerOfGeorge did a whole breakdown of this myth.

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Your statement may be true, however it would qualify as “moving the goalposts”.

1. I’m assuming your reference is to a post which researched starting players missing individual games against Bama in 2020 due to Covid. The assertion, which sounds similar to your referenced observation, is that many of the opposition’s star players opted out of the season entirely. This would not qualify for the previously stated parameters. However, this is not the smoking gun.

2. Teams did not receive the traditional spring training and fall camps. Additionally, Covid guidelines affected teams’ abilities to properly prepare for games. We saw the affect of this on offensive and defensive statistics nationwide. Offenses ran rampant while defenses were unable from preventing a wet ball from rolling uphill unaided. Broken plays abounded. This is why I argue that an asterisk belongs next to offensive records broken in the 2020 season—to clarify, not Bama’s statistics but college football as a whole. Bama was of course an offensive juggernaut and benefitted from this lack of defensive opposition.

On an even playing field, 2020 Bama still wins the national championship by a comfortable margin, but I don’t think the numbers would be as eye popping as they seem. Removed from individual situations, and assuming health, the 2011 and 2019 Bama squads are arguably much stronger candidates for an all-time list.