On3 Roundtable: Can Alabama football return to heights of dynasty talk

On3 imageby:Peter Warren05/24/23

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The Alabama dynasty under Nick Saban has been one of the most successful in the history of college football. For nearly a decade-and-a-half, the Crimson Tide have been the class of college football.

But people are wondering if the end is nigh with the program being at the top of the landscape. Saban is not getting any younger, Georgia doesn’t seem to be going away and there are plenty of other programs looking to make the leap in the near future.

BamaInsider’s Clint Lamb appeared on On3 Roundtable with J.D. PicKell and explained his thoughts on the chatter that the end of the Alabama dynasty is on the horizon.

“That narrative has kind of come in and out of Alabama’s reign throughout the Nick Saban era,” Lamb said. “It’s been wrong every other time that it’s happened, but at some point, it’s gotta be right. That could be this time.”

The Crimson Tide have a combined record of 194-27 during Saban’s now 16 years leading the program. That includes six national titles and three other national title game appearances.

During his reign, the highest number of seasons between championship game appearances is two. Outside of his first year with the program in 2007, the worst record Saban has had at Alabama is 10-3 during the 2010 season.

However, Saban has had only two undefeated seasons during his tenure in 2009 and 2020.

The 71-year-old head coach is still operating at a high level for a head coach but last year was definitely a disappointing one for the Crimson Tide. They finished 11-2 with a bowl win but they didn’t make the SEC Championship.

It was only the seventh time under Saban they did not represent the SEC West in the title game. Five of those times, the team that did represent the SEC West played in the national championship game. One other time, Alabama still made the College Football Playoff and went on to win it all.

This year was the one time a team made the SEC title game and there was not an SEC West representative in the College Football Playoff or BCS Championship Game.

But Alabama is going back to its dynasty roots with an emphasis on a more run-first, heavy-hitting style of play that defined the first part of the Crimson Tide dynasty.

“I do think Alabama is pretty vulnerable compared to where we’ve seen them in the past,” Lamb said. “But I really want to see them get back to this style of football — being a lot more physically dominant up front, having a big offensive line that can move people in the run game, playing a lot more physical on defense. If they can do that, I certainly think that they’re in a position where they can get back to being one of the premier — I think they are still one of the premier programs in college football. It’s just the last couple of years, you’ve watched them and you’ve seen them be vulnerable. I think in comparison to what they’re doing right now as far as the style of football, I think that’s the key difference.”