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Ranking The Last 100 Years of Alabama Football

By C.J. Schexnayder
Crimson Tide quarterback Pat Trammell led Alabama to its first National Championship under Coach Paul W. Bryant.
Crimson Tide quarterback Pat Trammell led Alabama to its first National Championship under Coach Paul W. Bryant.

In 1958 Paul W. Bryant returned to the University of Alabama to begin rebuilding the football program he once played for. He was 45 years old and had been a head coach at three different schools leading them all to new heights of success. But the National Championship had eluded him.

He started with a group of raw freshmen and began transforming the Crimson Tide program from the bottom up. Three years later he had molded the team into a fearsome unit that "played like it was a sin to give up a point." After rolling undefeated through the regular season Alabama met Frank Broyles Arkansas squad in the 1962 Sugar Bowl. The 10-3 victory over the Razorbacks 10-3 gave the Crimson Tide the first National Championship of the Bryant Era.

That team was not simply Bryant's first great Alabama squad, it may have been one of the best in the history of the program as well as the game.

Bill Connelly, of Rock M Nation, has produced a statistical comparison for Football Outsiders that ranks the best college football teams in the last 100 years. Using a metric that gauged on points scored and points allowed - the same tool OTS relies on to derive his Pythagorean Wins statistics - Connelly created a historical comparison of every team in the past century of college football.

Today, over at Football Outsiders, he reveals that Alabama's 1961 squad is ranked No. 2. Furthermore, no less that 12 Crimson Tide teams made the list, more than any other program in college football. Here is how Alabama fared in Connelly's rankings.

Overall Rank Alabama Rank Year Coach Record Championships
2 1 1961 Paul W. Bryant 11-0 NC/SEC
8 2 1962 Paul W. Bryant 10-1
15 3 1979 Paul W. Bryant 12-0 NC/SEC
24 4 1966 Paul W. Bryant 11-0 SEC
40 5 1971 Paul W. Bryant 11-1 SEC
61 6 1934 Frank Thomas 10-0 NC/SEC
63 7 1975 Paul W. Bryant 11-1 SEC
78 8 2009 Nick Saban 14-0 NC/SEC
80 9 1973 Paul W. Bryant 11-1 NC/SEC
83 10 1992 Gene Stallings 13-0 NC/SEC
88 11 1936 Frank Thomas 8-0-1
97 12 1945 Frank Thomas 10-0 SEC


His results have been... controversial to say the least. But we thought it was interesting to see how the rest of the Crimson Tide teams stacked up using this system. Obviously, these twelve squads are at the top of the list of all Alabama teams over the past century but Connelly was kind enough to provide us his tally of the rest using his system. You'll find them after the jump.

Rank Year Coach Record Championships
13 1974 Paul W. Bryant 11-1 SEC
14 1964 Paul W. Bryant 10-1 NC/SEC
15 1930 Wallace Wade 10-0 NC/SC
16 1924 Wallace Wade 8-1 SC
17 1925 Wallace Wade 10-0 NC/SC
18 1937 Frank Thomas 9-1 SEC
19 1978 Paul W. Bryant 11-1 NC/SEC
20 1977 Paul W. Bryant 11-1 SEC
21 1980 Paul W. Bryant 10-2
22 1972 Paul W. Bryant 10-2 SEC
23 1926 Wallace Wade 9-0-1 NC/SC
24 1965 Paul W. Bryant 9-1-1 NC/SEC
25 1960 Paul W. Bryant 8-1-2
26 1919 Xen Scott 8-1
27 1933 Frank Thomas 7-1-1 SEC
28 1938 Frank Thomas 7-1-1
29 1994 Gene Stallings 12-1
30 2002 Dennis Franchione 10-3
31 1991 Gene Stallings 11-1
32 1963 Paul W. Bryant 9-2
33 1935 Frank Thomas 6-2-1
34 2005 Mike Shula 10-2
35 2008 Nick Saban 12-2
36 1952 Harold Drew 10-2
37 1989 Bill Curry 10-2 SEC
38 1986 Ray Perkins 10-3
39 1985 Ray Perkins 9-2-1
40 1941 Frank Thomas 9-2 NC
41 1976 Paul W. Bryant 9-3
42 1967 Paul W. Bryant 8-2-1
43 1999 Mike DuBose 10-3 SEC
44 1920 Xen Scott 10-1
45 1931 Frank Thomas 9-1
46 1981 Paul W. Bryant 9-2-1 SEC
47 1950 Harold Drew 9-2
48 1939 Frank Thomas 5-3-1
49 1968 Paul W. Bryant 8-3
50 1996 Gene Stallings 10-3
51 1959 Paul W. Bryant 7-2-2
52 1942 Frank Thomas 8-3
53 1993 Gene Stallings 9-3-1
54 1932 Frank Thomas 8-2
55 1988 Bill Curry 9-3
56 1947 Harold Drew 8-3
57 1982 Paul W. Bryant 8-4
58 1940 Frank Thomas 7-2
59 1995 Gene Stallings 8-3
60 1983 Ray Perkins 8-4
61 1928 Wallace Wade 6-3
62 1915 Thomas Kelly 6-2
63 1923 Wallace Wade 7-2-1
64 1929 Wallace Wade 6-3
65 1944 Frank Thomas 5-2-2
66 1917 Thomas Kelly 5-2-1
67 2001 Dennis Franchione 7-5
68 1953 Harold Drew 6-3-3 SEC
69 1958 Paul W. Bryant 5-4-1
70 1946 Frank Thomas 7-4
71 1987 Bill Curry 7-5
72 1969 Paul W. Bryant 6-5
73 1911 D.V. Graves 5-2-2
74 1990 Gene Stallings 7-5
75 1922 Xen Scott 6-3-1
76 2003 Mike Shula 4-9
77 1970 Paul W. Bryant 6-5-1
78 1912 D.V. Graves 5-3-1
79 1913 D.V. Graves 6-3
80 1949 Harold Drew 6-3-1
81 1998 Mike DuBose 7-5
82 1916 Thomas Kelly 6-3
83 2004 Mike Shula 6-6
84 1948 Harold Drew 6-4-1
85 2007 Nick Saban 7-6
86 1914 D.V. Graves 7-6
87 1927 Wallace Wade 5-4-1
88 1984 Ray Perkins 5-6
89 2006 Mike Shula 6-7
90 1954 Harold Drew 4-5-2
91 1921 Xen Scott 5-4-2
92 1951 Harold Drew 5-6
93 1910 Guy Lowman 4-4
94 2000 Mike DuBose 3-8
95 1997 Mike DuBose 4-7
96 1955 J.B. Whitworth 0-10
97 1956 J.B. Whitworth 2-7-1
98 1957 J.B. Whitworth 2-7-1

 

Football Outsiders Top 100 College Football Teams of the Last 100 Years

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