On a Wednesday morning appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on WJOX-FM in Birmingham, Saban gave an overview of last season before diving into the team’s outlook for this fall. In doing so, he made a head-turning comment about Alabama’s experience in 2021.

“Last year,” Saban said, “we had kind of a rebuilding year.”

Just about any other program in the country would be envious of the Tide’s “rebuilding year”, which resulted in a 12–1 regular season record and yet another SEC championship. Alabama even held a lead in the fourth quarter of the national title game against Georgia before the Bulldogs scored 20 unanswered points to win 33–18.