Alabama Football: Another title makes Nick Saban the undisputed GOAT

An Alabama Football win over Clemson on Monday night in Santa Clara would cement Nick Saban’s legacy as the greatest college football coach of all time.

More: 5 Reasons Alabama will beat Clemson and win the national championship

There’s been a ghost hanging over Nick Saban since he first arrived in Tuscaloosa in 2007. A ghost with a booming, raspy voice stained by unfiltered Chesterfields. In the wildest of expectations for Saban’s tenure at the Capstone, no one saw him approaching and eventually overtaking the houndstooth deity that cast a shadow over the entire city.

Bear Bryant’s legacy has hung over Tuscaloosa, and the entire state, since he passed away in 1982. Affectionately still known as Coach Bryant, his legacy hasn’t changed even with Saban’s success in the stadium that bears his name (no pun intended)

His booming voice can still be heard overlaid on the pregame hype video that plays before every home game. Houndstooth has become one of the primary colors for Alabama, joining the classic crimson and white.

Coach Bryant resurrected a once proud program when “Mama called” in 1958, ascending the program to heights never before seen. He led the Crimson Tide to six national championships in his 25 years on the sideline.

When he retired, the program was lost in the wilderness for the next two and a half decades, save for a brief reprieve thanks to a former Junction Boy, Gene Stallings, who led Alabama to some brief success in the 1990s, culminating in the 1992 national title.

Saban was brought in to bring the program back to the lofty heights it had ascended to under the Bear. Regardless of how well Saban would do in Tuscaloosa, and many expected him to find at least moderate success, no one thought he could get to the rarified air occupied by Coach Bryant.

Not even when he won the National Championship in 2009.

Or 2011.

Or 2012.

The 2015 title brought him within one national title of Bear Bryant. Last season’s win over Georgia brought Saban neck-and-neck with the Bear, tying him for the most national championships in college football history.

One more ring puts Saban alone at the top of the mountain. One more ring would change the mind of even the most ardent of the old guard who refuse to allow Saban to take the place of a man who was hailed more as a religious figure than a football coach.

The last few holdouts, among the Alabama fanbase at least, still view Saban has a title behind Coach Bryant since one of his national championships occurred in Baton Rouge.

Those last few holdouts wouldn’t be able to deny Saban’s place as the GOAT if he is able to lead Alabama to another national title in Santa Clara.

Saban being able to win at this level is unprecedented for this era of college football, with scholarship reductions leading to more and more parity across in the nation.

Coach Bryant winning six national championships in 25 years is a spectacular feat. If Saban knocks off Clemson once more, it would be his sixth national championship in the last 10 years, a feat that would be unrealistic even in the virtual world.

Alabama is in the midst of the most dominant run in college football history, becoming one of the best dynasties in the history of sports in general, with no ending sight.

Nick Saban is already college football’s GOAT. Monday night will only serve as further confirmation of that fact.