Wasson: As anger subsides, it isn’t like Nick Saban, Alabama blew out everybody, either

Winning is hard.

Just as the folks in Knoxville, where corn from a jar was swigged in abundance after a home OT win Saturday. Or the peeps in Athens, who were just peachy after outlasting the worst team in the SEC. And you better believe Lane Kiffin would trade Juice in for a mutt to get Ole Miss’ 2 bad losses back.

The object of the game is to score 1 more point than your opponent. Survive and play the next week – especially in an absolutely stacked Southeastern Conference – and there should be few issues.

Why, then, are Alabama fans so grumpy right now?

The 3-word answer you’re likely to get from Crimson Tide mouth breathers – “But, Nick Saban!” – should ring a bit hollow if you actually apply logic to the circumstance. Because although said Alabama playing surface namesake won 6 national titles and 9 SEC crowns in his 17 seasons roaming the sideline, it wasn’t like the Tide blew out everyone in the process.

That’s why we are here today, to add a bit of perspective to the proceedings – and to keep said low-wattage brains from seeking high plateaus from which to leap. Recency bias is so strange in that it doesn’t work both directions, alas. Sure, Houndstoothians are able to spout all those signature blowout wins and winning moments at the snap of their Golden Flake-crumbed fingers. But how soon they forget some of the, well, more forgettable moments of the Saban Era.

Before that, though, let’s look at the present. Winning ugly is precisely what Alabama did Saturday – needing to go the full 60 minutes to overcome South Carolina 27-25. That moved the Tide to 5-1 overall this season, and still within a game of No. 1 Texas atop the conference.

But, but, but – wait, there’s more. In the process, Kalen DeBoer became the first Alabama coach to start 5-1 in his first season since Frank Thomas in 1931. For those scoring at home, that was 2 years before the SEC even came into existence.

We are well aware of the counterarguments here – because we have helped make them over the past couple weeks. There is the “being happy with barely beating the Gamecocks” argument. And the “culture shift shows at Vanderbilt” warning shot. Those rebuttals aren’t mutually exclusive from this, so we aren’t backing down from them. A better counter could be that barely beating the Gamecocks and losing to the Commodores with a cupboard stocked like the present is unacceptable, but still …  the Crimson Tide are 5-1 and ranked No. 7 in America.

The proof is in the pudding, and the flavor Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama squad is serving thus far tastes like success. Winning ugly is still better than losing pretty, right?

Saban’s Tide squads did plenty of winning ugly, too. For every blowout of Notre Dame to win the 2012 national title, there is plenty of evidence that the Alabama was satisfied to get off the field with a W.

No one recalls the 2007 Independence Bowl against Colorado when reciting the Saban hagiography, do they? Alabama leapt out to a 27-0 lead but held on to win 30-24 and touch off a Shreveport celebration in Saban’s rookie season.

OK, you say, that was 2007. Fair enough. How about last season? Alabama traveled to play mighty South Florida early in 2023, and slogged its way to 17-3 victory that precisely none of y’all were thrilled about.

An SEC opponent? Let’s cast back to the 2009 national title season, when Alabama’s offense sputtered for 60 minutes and needed Terrence Cody to block 2 field goals – including one at the final gun – to outlast Tennessee 9-6.

The list can continue. Georgia Southern in 2011. Arkansas in 2014. Tennessee again in 2015. Ole Miss in 2020. Point is, finding a way to win when the ball ain’t bouncing your way is often the difference between a season to remember and a season to forget.

Don’t believe me? Listen to the man himself:

“Nick Saban would never be happy after a win like that” pic.twitter.com/3QAJpa21Bu

— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) October 13, 2024

Saban went 7-6 in his first season at Alabama. Heck, Paul W. Bryant went 5-4-1 in his first season after Mama called in 1958, and had 7 losses and 5 ties before breaking through in 1961. Ray Perkins? 8-4. Bill Curry? 7-5, same as Gene Stallings and Dennis Franchione.

Not only were there plenty of losses in all those examples, surely there were lots of ugly wins in the process. Calm down a bit, Crimson Tide Nation – we are smack-dab in the middle of the regular season. Plenty of ball left, including a Tennessee program that if you recall sparked cigars on y’all the last time the Third Saturday in October visited Neyland Stadium.

And even if Alabama regresses to the point that the fine folks at the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa or the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando begin preparing for a Crimson Tide, that is still better than Mike DuBose’s 4-7 start in 1997 and Mika Shula’s 4-9 debut in 2003.

David Wasson

An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.