When it comes to college football programs with rich and celebrated history and tradition, the Alabama Crimson Tide take a backseat to no one.
This especially applies to national championships. The NCAA recognizes 16 of those for the Crimson Tide, though the school claims 18. The only team the NCAA recognizes with as many or more national titles is Yale with 18. The most recent of Yale’s came in 1927.
If Alabama‘s national championships weren’t enough, the Crimson Tide also hold some pretty unique records not directly related to titles. Veteran reporter Chris Low of ESPN highlighted a few of those in his list of college football’s most unbreakable records.
Derrick Thomas holds Alabama’s most unbreakable college football record
The first among them on ESPN’s list (No. 6 overall) is Derrick Thomas’ incredible 1988 season, which included such eye-popping numbers as 28 sacks, 88 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 44 quarterback hurries, and two blocked kicks.
“Thomas was unblockable that season, but you won’t find his eye-popping numbers in the NCAA record book. At the time, sacks weren’t an official NCAA statistic, meaning Arizona State‘s Terrell Suggs has the “official” NCAA sack record with 24 in 2002. While defenders play more games now (Thomas played in 11 games in 1988), no FBS player has reached the 20-sack plateau in the past 20 years. Last season, the FBS sack leader was Marshall’s Mike Green with 17.”
Upsets of Nick Saban teams during his run at Alabama from 2007-23 were incredibly rare. The Crimson Tide won 100 consecutive games against unranked teams following their 21-14 loss to Louisiana-Monroe in Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa. It took another 14 years for an unranked team to beat Alabama.
That 100-game win streak against unranked teams was No. 10 on ESPN’s list of unbreakable records.
What ESPN said about Nick Saban’s Alabama record
“The Crimson Tide won 100 consecutive games against unranked foes under Saban and went 14 years without losing a game to an unranked opponent, a streak that was snapped by a 41-38 loss to 19-point underdog Texas A&M on Oct. 9, 2021 with a walk-off 28-yard field goal by the Aggies’ Seth Small. It was the longest such streak in the AP poll era, and Saban was 123-4 overall at Alabama against unranked teams.”
The only other unranked teams Alabama lost to in Saban’s 17-year stay in Tuscaloosa were also in 2007: Florida State in Jacksonville and Auburn in that year’s Iron Bowl.
The last Alabama accomplishment that Low lists as an unbreakable record should perhaps be ranked even higher than Saban’s 100-game winning streak vs. unranked teams.
It’s a stretch of play that dates back to Bear Bryant’s dominance in the 70s and early 80s. From 1976-80, Bryant won 27 straight games against SEC opponents — a record hard to imagine duplicating in today’s 16-team SEC superleague (or even before the additions of Texas and Oklahoma).
What ESPN said of Bear Bryant’s SEC dominance
“The Crimson Tide’s average margin of victory in the streak was 21.6 points, and only three times in 27 games did their opponent score more than 20. Florida won 25 straight against SEC foes under Spurrier from 1994 to 1997.”
The most unbreakable record on ESPN’s list was more than worthy of its No. 1 spot: coach Bud Wilkinson’s 47-game win streak at Oklahoma from 1953-57.
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