The evolution of College Football and Nick Saban's philosophy...

I've been going back and looking at some of the earlier seasons of Saban's tenure at Alabama and it's been really interesting watching how football has evolved in such a relatively short period of time. The spread wasn't unknown to the SEC in 2009 as Urban Meyer had brought it with him from Utah when he arrived at Florida in 2005. And of course, there were Steve Spurrier's offenses of the 1990s that are distant cousins of the modern-day spread attack. However, Alabama's philosophy in the first part of Saban's tenure remained what had been Alabama's offensive philosophy since the days of Wallace Wade: a strong, balanced running game combined with an elite defense.

Nick Saban utilized this philosophy to perfection in his first two or three national championship teams, though by 2012 you could start to see a shift in our offensive philosophy. The passing game was beginning to take a more vital role in the offense, though the RB combo of Eddie Lacy and TJ Yeldon that year might have been the best (at least production-wise) in Alabama Football history.

For a visual aid to see just how much the game has changed in the last 12 seasons, just compare and contrast Saban's first national championship game victory at Alabama with his most recent:

2010 Citi BCS National Championship Game Highlights

2021 CFP National Championship Game Highlights