You can split Nick Saban’s six national championships with Alabama into two parts. The first chapter is best represented by the Tide’s stomping of Notre Dame in the 2012 title game. Until then, Alabama didn’t so much beat you as it sat on your chest until the clock ran out.
The game plan was simple: Use a suffocating defense and a punishing run game to flatten the opponent, and the Tide were the biggest and best at it. But Saban recognized the start of a shift in the sport. Up-tempo offenses were beginning to give his team fits, and the coach wondered, “Is this [up-tempo style] what we want football to be?”
Nonetheless, he realized his program would have to pivot. After being in the title conversation for two years but not winning the crown, Saban’s Tide were back on top after the 2015 season. He was equipped with an offensive force that was beginning to perfect the up-tempo, run-pass-option momentum that had captured the rest of the sport, with Lane Kiffin as offensive coordinator and QB Jalen Hurts taking over for Blake Barnett in the ’16 opener.
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