Nick Saban compares 2023 Alabama to 2015 National Championship squad

There’s no question that this year’s Alabama team is a little bit different from squads in recent history, as the Crimson Tide have continued to grow throughout the season while maintaining success.

The results for the most part have been the same, as Alabama still boasts an undefeated record in conference play sitting at the top of the SEC West division standings with just two conference games remaining in the season. But given his team’s continuous evolution throughout the year, head coach Nick Saban was asked if this year’s team reminds him of any he’s coached in the past on the ‘Pat McAfee Show.’

“Well they’re all different, all teams are different, and you want to try to feature the players that you have on offense and defense you got to be able to adjust your system to whatever you’re gonna see,” Saban said. “But I think the talent on every team is a little different.”

Alabama’s early season struggles were well documented as new offensive and defensive coordinators had to get their feet wet, their offseason quarterback competition bled into the season, and struggles versus Texas and USF had many questioning the Crimson Tide. Which reminds Saban of a similar situation he found himself in during the 2015 season.

“But if you’re talking about competitive character, I think it was 2015. We had quarterback issues early on, Jake Coker became the quarterback, we had a really tough, physical team that had to overcome a lot of adversity, had great perseverance, and they played that way,” Saban explained.

Many doubted Alabama in 2015 after dropping their third game of the season against Ole Miss, but the Crimson Tide rallied and ran the table for the rest of the season on their way to Saban’s fourth national championship win.

Saban believes this year’s team has similar intangibles and competitive character, maybe even more so than last year’s talented squad that lost just two games by a combined four points.

“I always say how do you manage heart?” Saban asked. “We had a really good team last year, but in a couple games that we lost we didn’t manage heart at the end of the game very well. We made some mistakes that helped the other team and had to live with the consequences. This team so far has been able to manage heart really really well and make some of the best plays in critical situations in the game, which when you have great competitive character that’s what you have an ability to do and I think that’s really really important if you’re going to be successful.”

Alabama’s ability to evolve and finish games this season has been a sight to see compared to their typical reign of absolute dominance. And it will definitely be interesting to see if they can continue growing and potentially propel themselves to similar heights that the 2015 team was able to attain.