The 25 best college football teams to not win a national championship

Best college football teams without a national championship: 2016 Alabama Crimson Tide

Led by a defense that is among the best in the history of the program and a high-powered offense piloted by a true freshman Jalen Hurts, who would ultimately win the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year award in his lone season under Lane Kiffin’s guidance, Alabama came within one second of college football immortality.

Alabama ran through its regular-season slate with little drama, aside from a come-from-behind win in Oxford over Ole Miss in September, where the Tide had to battle back from an early 24-3 deficit to escape with a five-point victory.

While Hurts and the Tide offense had the ability to score points in bunches, it was the defense, led by a trio of first-round picks in the 2017 NFL Draft – Marlon Humphrey, Jonathan Allen, and Reuben Foster – that paved the way for greatness.

The 2016 Tide had a penchant for non-offensive touchdowns, scoring 15 of them throughout the season, including at least one in all the team’s first eight regular-season games.

Alabama defeated seven ranked teams in the regular season, including an impressive blowout win in the season opener against a USC team that finished the season ranked No. 3 in the country.

After a perfect regular season, Alabama easily dispatched Florida 54-16 in the SEC Championship Game. The Crimson Tide then rolled over Washington 24-7 in the Peach Bowl national semifinal to earn a rematch with Deshaun Watson and Clemson with the national championship once again on the line in Tampa.

In yet another classic matchup with the Tigers, Alabama jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, but a back-and-forth battle ensued between the two heavyweights. Jalen Hurts ran in a 30-yard touchdown with just over two minutes to play to give Alabama a 28-24 lead, but that proved to be too much time left on the clock for the superhuman Watson.

Watson engineered the game-winning drive, hitting Hunter Renfrow for the game-winning touchdown with just one second left on the clock, a gassed Crimson Tide defense ultimately powerless to stop his heroics.