re: Alabama Back to Pre-Saban Irrelevance – What Signs Are You Seeing?

2017 was 9 years ago gump.

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2002 - 10-3, top 15 finish (Coaches poll)

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That team beat the shite out of LSU in Death Valley that season 31-0

Saban's worst loss as a college head coach

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Gen Patton

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you actually bring up a solid point I haven't seen mentioned before. Obviously there's been lots of talk about their declin from saban to now but it's bene mostly either generalities (they suck now) or just win/loss records, which is objective and black and white. But as you hit on, you can also see the slow shift even with saban there that goes something like this:

Mostly kill people/only a few close wins/what minimal losses they are close
-Most of Sabans' whole tenure through 2020

Whoop most people/close wins start to increase in number/losses get a bit bigger
-In 2021 they had narrow single digit escapes against multiple teams they were better than, including one in OT. They had a loss to an unranked team and lost the natty by 15 points
-2022 more close single digit wins, and now multiple regular season losses for the first time in a while
-2023 even more close single digit wins and again multiple losses. First time posting 3 consecutive seasons with at least 2 losses since 2006-2008

Beatings are less frequent/losses increase in frequency/losses increase in severity
-2024 avoided a lot of narrow wins, aside from a head scratcher against SC. There were however 3 regular season losses including one of the worst of this century against vanderbilt. There was a 21 point beatdown against OU, and ended the season with loss #4
-2025 saw 3 losses by at least 2 touchdowns. Of the 4 total losses, half of them were by at least 21 points. 4 wins by single digits, half of which were against unranked teams.


Obviously the deboar era bama isn't close to saban era, but there's actually been a pretty steady and noticeable downswing beginning late in the saban tenure and continuing to get steadily worse up to and including right now.

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There have been A LOT of Bama fan detractors of DeBoer. Yes, he has his Bama fan supporters, but let's not pretend he's got full approval of the fanbase. He's gotten A LOT of continued criticism from the fanbase. Four losses per season isn't sitting well with a lot of the fan base.

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Agreed. It isn't everyone, probably the minority, honestly.

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you actually bring up a solid point I haven't seen mentioned before.

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its been talked about ad nauseum

I'd be a bit worried about their current recruiting ranking. I know its still early but last time I looked they were ranked in the 60s just below UNLV and one step above South Florida. But I'm sure they'll rebound before its over and make a push for the top 5 at least.

UGA, Bama and Ohio St have ruled recruiting for a while now, but you get the feeling that's all changing with the changing landscape of cfb and NIL stuff. Schools can't just expect to get all the 5 stars solely on name and tradition. In the words of Bob Dylan, "Times they are-ah changin."

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paperwasp

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Which is why I said, "I'm sure they'll rebound before its over."

Same here. Frick these aholes making money to play now.

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Alabama was winning playoff games pre Saban ?

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Deboer has the second most playoff wins of any coach in Alabama history. Better than Bear!

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Gen Patton


you actually bring up a solid point I haven't seen mentioned before. Obviously there's been lots of talk about their declin from saban to now but it's bene mostly either generalities (they suck now) or just win/loss records, which is objective and black and white. But as you hit on, you can also see the slow shift even with saban there that goes something like this:

Mostly kill people/only a few close wins/what minimal losses they are close
-Most of Sabans' whole tenure through 2020

Whoop most people/close wins start to increase in number/losses get a bit bigger
-In 2021 they had narrow single digit escapes against multiple teams they were better than, including one in OT. They had a loss to an unranked team and lost the natty by 15 points
-2022 more close single digit wins, and now multiple regular season losses for the first time in a while
-2023 even more close single digit wins and again multiple losses. First time posting 3 consecutive seasons with at least 2 losses since 2006-2008

Beatings are less frequent/losses increase in frequency/losses increase in severity
-2024 avoided a lot of narrow wins, aside from a head scratcher against SC. There were however 3 regular season losses including one of the worst of this century against vanderbilt. There was a 21 point beatdown against OU, and ended the season with loss #4
-2025 saw 3 losses by at least 2 touchdowns. Of the 4 total losses, half of them were by at least 21 points. 4 wins by single digits, half of which were against unranked teams.


Obviously the deboar era bama isn't close to saban era, but there's actually been a pretty steady and noticeable downswing beginning late in the saban tenure and continuing to get steadily worse up to and including right now.

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For the past nearly 40 years, Bama very rarely gets blown out like they did in the Rose Bowl. I think those hoping for that will be greatly disappointed. They also kicked the shite out of teams a ton under Nick Saban, whereas they won a lot of games before he got to Tuscaloosa, but often by closer margins.

I did the research. Here are the times Bama has won by 28+ or lost by 21+ against power teams since 1980:

Power conference 28+ wins from 1980 - 2006 (pre-Saban): 26

Power conference 21+ losses from 1980 2006 (pre-Saban): 6 (37-6 loss to Notre Dame in 1987; 35-0 loss to Florida in 1991; 41-14 loss to Tennessee in 1995; 27-0 loss to LSU in 1997; 42-6 loss to Arkansas in 1998; 38-7 loss to Virginia Tech in 1998)

Power conference 28+ wins from 2007 - 2023 (Saban): 53

Power conference 21+ losses from 2007 - 2023 (Saban): 1 (2018 national championship loss to Clemson 44-16)

Power conference 28+ wins from 2024 - present (post-Saban): 3

Power conference 21+ losses from 2024 - present (post-Saban): 3 (24-3 loss to Oklahoma in 2024; 28-7 loss to Georgia in 2025 SECCG; 38-3 loss to Indiana in Rose Bowl)