The Alabama Dynasty

2019

It was a beautiful day in Tuscaloosa, it was an Alabama win, yet Alabama fans didn’t go home happy. On October 19, 2019, the end felt near for Alabama football. Their star QB was now down for the count waiting for an official ruling. The world of college football spurred with excitement for a few hours. Then the word came that Tua would be out for the next game with an ankle injury. Every playoff hopeful team or fan immediately looked up the Alabama schedule hoping for a tough team. What they were shown was a  2-5 Arkansas team with no conference wins. Dreams of a CFP without Bama were slipping away, but the worst was yet to come for the Crimson Tide. 

After a tough loss at home against the Tigers, the Crimson Tide would have to travel to play Mississippi State on the road. On that November 16 Saturday, tragedy would strike the hearts of Alabama fans once again. With 3:01 left in the second quarter, Tua would go down again. This time he wouldn’t be able to return a game later. He was out for the whole year with a dislocated hip. The worst part was Saban was planning to take out Tua just seconds before the series started. Bama would go to lose to Auburn in the Iron Bowl and finish the season with a win against Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. The only question left for Bama is will the dynasty continue?

To really understand this team, you have to go all the way back to the beginning. On January 4th, 2007 Nick Saban was hired to be the coach of Alabama. The first year was by no means pretty, in his first year of rebuilding the team, the team went 7-6. Going 2-2 against ranked teams and finishing the year with a win against Colorado in the Independence bowl. The next year was a great year for Saban and co. The Crimson Tide went undefeated in the regular season until they lost to #4 Florida in the SEC championship game. They also would go on to lose to #6 Utah in the Sugar Bowl. After that season the Alabama dynasty officially had started. 

2009-10

Alabama went undefeated the next year winning the national championship over Colt McCoy and the Texas Longhorns. On their path, Bama went on to beat #7 Virginia Tech 34-24, #9 LSU 24-15, #1 Florida 32-13, and #2 Texas 37-21. Complete domination of every team they had in front of them. Saban showed what he could do in just three years as a college football coach. Mark Ingram was apart of this team leading the team in rushing yards and putting up 100 plus against Florida and Texas. 

In 2010 Alabama had a bit of a letdown year losing against three ranked teams including #2 Auburn. That Auburn team would go on to win the national championship vs Oregon, They would finish the season on a high note beating MSU in the Capital One Bowl 49-7. 

2011-12

These are probably some of the best years in the dynasty. Bama had a great QB in AJ McCarron and went undefeated in 2011 again winning the national championship vs LSU. This was after losing to them earlier in the season at home, 9-6 in overtime. They went into New Orleans which is home field for LSU and won. They destroyed every team they played with the LSU home game being the only game where it was a less than 21 point deficit.

The next year was more of the same as Bama was dominant having one slip up against Texas A&M. Other than that they crushed it, winning the national championship of a score of 42-14. An absolute blowout.

2013

This really looked like another national championship year for Alabama all the way to the Iron Bowl. They would go on to lose 34-28 which put them out of reach of the BCS national championship. Then they played #11 Oklahoma in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. They were heavily favored but eventually lost after an OU strip sack. Final score 45-31

2014-17

The start of the CFP opened with Alabama getting the one seed with a 12-1 record. They would lose to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl with Zeke Elliot. #4 OSU would go on to win the national championship. 

In 2015 it was more of the same, which I have to say every time for this team. They lost once to #15 Ole Miss 43-37. Then dominated #3 Michigan State in the semifinals 38-0. They beat #1 Clemson in a thriller 45-40, one of the best national championships ever played. 

The next year they lost to #2 Clemson in the National Championship 35-31. Lead by Jalen Hurts they went completely undefeated and beat everyone they played except Clemson by more the 17. This was one of the most dominant years of the dynasty, yet it didn’t end the right way for the Tide. 

2017, was named the revenge tour by many Alabama fans as they climbed and made their way through the regular season and into the playoffs. Unfortunately, there would not be another Clemson-Bama finals game this year. They lost to #6 Auburn, moving them down to a 4 seed. Although they beat Clemson in the semifinal and then beat Georgia behind the arm of Tua in the championship. A championship remembered by many and will go down in history.

2018

Once again the regular season was a blur for Bama, beating every team and getting to the playoffs on cruize control. They then fought through Oklahoma and Kyler Murray to face Clemson in another championship. They then got creamed and Clemson got their revenge. This was said to be the greatest Alabama team in a very long time. The score in that championship was 44-16, just horrific. 

Final Thoughts:

While everyone said the dynasty is over, I don’t really believe that. Alabama is just too good of a program to just end their dynasty all of a sudden. Nick Saban will reload the team like he always does and lead the team back. Don’t count out Bama even after a bad year.

Top Picture by NBC DFW