Alabama Football: 5 Takeaways from 2018 season
Alabama Football came up short of its ultimate goal, but it was still a year to remember in Tuscaloosa. Here are five takeaways from the 2018 season.
Alabama’s season ended on a sour note with the Crimson Tide suffering their worst-ever loss in Nick Saban’s 12-years at the helm in the National Championship Game to Clemson.
The 44-16 loss was shocking and unexpected. For years, Alabama has been the big bully, the Deebo of the college football playground. Typically, the fight has been won before the opening whistle because of teams just outright refusing to fight, intimidated by the sight of the towering Crimson Tide machine.
In Santa Clara, Clemson played the part of Craig and landed a devastating knockout blow to Alabama in the form of a humiliating defeat. The loss wasn’t shocking in and of itself, but the margin of defeat was unexpected even for the most loyal of Clemson backers.
The shock-waves that resonated from Levi’s Stadium sent scribes quickly running to their laptops to fire off a litany of takes about the downfall of a dynasty. When Alabama loses, as rare of an occasion as that is, national writers jump to produce high-brow pieces about the ending of arguably the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport.
It happened after the Kick-Six. It happened after the playoff semifinal defeat to Ohio State in 2014. It happened most notably after the home loss to Ole Miss in 2015. It already happened after one loss to Clemson in a National Championship Game. We just heard it last year after a surprising Iron Bowl loss.
It’s all wishful thinking from a bunch of people with significant Alabama fatigue looking to jump out in front of the inevitable ending of an era that has been completely dominated by Nick Saban.
The reality of the season is that Alabama went 14-1 and finished all the way down at No. 2 in all the major polls. Some advanced metrics still rated Alabama as the best team in college football in 2018.
They won the SEC for the fourth time in five years and sent out the senior class with a 55-4 record and two National Championships. It was their fourth straight Top-2 finish in the AP Poll and 11th straight Top-10 finish.
This run of success has been unprecedented, and won’t be tarnished by a single lopsided defeat at the hands of an all-time great team. There will be a lot more wins to come in Tuscaloosa over the next few years, and it’s unlikely to be the last time they are face-to-face with Clemson with a National Title on the line.
Here are five takeaways from Alabama’s 2018 season: