Consecutive Wins Against No. 1 Teams in Same Season? Nick Saban Can Make History
Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban tells the story every once in a while, and can now even laugh about it a little, although he certainly didn't at the time. During his first game as a head coach at Michigan State back in 1995, he found himself on the sideline against none other than future Hall of Fame coach Tom Osborne, with Nebraska in the middle of arguably its greatest run. The visiting Cornhuskers absolutely crushed the Spartans, 50-10.
"The score did not indicate how bad they beat us,” Saban said during one of his recollections. “I hadn't been in college football for four or five years, being in the NFL. I'm thinking we're never going to win a game. We'll never win a game here at Michigan State. I must have taken a bad job, wrong job, no players, something.
“I remember Coach Osborne when we shook hands after the game, he put his arm around me and whispered in my ear, ‘You're not really as bad as you think.’ So I think he knew he had a pretty good team, and we actually ended up winning six games, so we weren't really probably as bad as I thought.”
Here's the thing about that loss, it wasn't against the nation's No. 1 team. The Cornhuskers were "only" the preseason No. 2 selection in the AP Top 25, with 15-first-place votes compared to Florida State's 31. A year later, Nebraska was No. 1 during their Week 2 rematch and put on a similar show, shellacking the Spartans 55-14, for a combined score in the home-and-home series of 105-24.
More often that not, that's what happens when most coaches face the No. 1 team, which is usually ranked that way for good reasons. Some 27 years later, it's one of three times a Saban-coached team has lost to the one sitting atop the poll. Historically, that number is pretty normal among top coaches.
Here's the statistic that's nothing short of jaw-dropping, which we've been following for the past decade: Saban has notched nine career wins against No. 1 opposition, including the win that defined the early part of his career, 28-24 at Ohio State, in 1998.
That's more than twice as many as any coach in college football history.
Yes, he's statistically benefitted from the expansion of the postseason, but it's not like his peers have been able to do anything comparable. Among them, Dabo Swinney is 2-2 when facing a No. 1 team, Brian Kelly is 1-3, and Kirby Smart is 1-2. Mack Brown is 2-5.
It needs to be noted that facing No. 1 teams doesn't happen that often to begin with, even for the biggest names in coaching. For example, when Paul W. "Bear Bryant took over at Alabama in 1958, his Crimson Tide teams didn't face a top-ranked opponent until the 1972 Orange Bowl loss to Nebraska.
But in addition to the record for wins against No. 1 teams, Saban is on the cusp of doing something else that no one one in college football has accomplished.
Alabama is coming off a 27-24 victory against No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, and will next face new-No. 1 Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl. The games may be roughly a month apart, but they're still next to each other on the schedule.
Facing the No. 1 team more than once in a season is extremely rare. Alabama did it in 2011, when it lost the "Game of the Century" to LSU 9-6 in the regular season, but won the rematch in the BCS Championship, 21-0. Both times the Tigers were No. 1. Auburn did it in 2013, topping No. 1 Alabama in the Iron Bowl, but then lost to No. 1 Florida State in the BCS Championship.
In 1984, Michigan under Bo Schembechler opened with a 22-14 victory against No. 1 Miami, and went on to lose in the Holiday Bowl to No. 1 BYU, 24-17, to finish 6-6. Amazingly, that same season Oklahoma and head coach Barry Switzer tied No. 1 Texas, 15-15, and five weeks later won at No. 1 Nebraska 17-7.
In 1955, Maryland under Jim Tatum upset No. 1 UCLA on Sept. 24, 7-0, but lost to No. 1 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 20-6. Similarly, in 1962, UCLA under Bill Barnes opened its season by upsetting No. 1 Ohio State, and then got a shot at rival Southern Cal when the Trojans were No. 1, but lost 14-3. That same year, Wisconsin knocked Northwestern from No. 1 with a 37-6 pounding on Nov. 10, but lost to USC in the Rose Bowl, 42-37.
Note that none of those teams pulled off the No. 1 sweep and won both games. So on that level alone what Alabama is attempting to do is unprecedented.
The "same season" distinction is important because Jimmy Johnson once pulled it off over two seasons. His Miami team topped off the 1987 season with a win over No. 1 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 20-14, to win the national title. However, the Hurricanes weren't considered the preseason team to beat in 1988. They were voted sixth and took the snub out on No. 1 Florida State, crushing the Seminoles in the opener, 31-0.
A win in the Rose Bowl would obviously be Saban's 10th over a No. 1 program. However, he couldn't possibly make it three straight because there won't be another poll before the National Championship Game, but on paper it would likely go down as the toughest three-game stretch in terms of rankings in college football history.
Additionally, with the College Football Playoff set to expand to 12 teams, the record would be even tougher to match as the chances of a team that tops No. 1 in a conference championship subsequently facing the new No. 1 team next are almost none. Under the new format, the top-seeded team gets a bye into the quarterfinals.
Nick Saban vs. No. 1 Teams
Beating the Best
Most Wins Against No. 1 Opponents
Best Winning Percentage Against No. 1
5 Additional Things to Consider ...
Christopher Walsh's notes column All Things CW regularly appears on BamaCentral
