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

Best college football teams without a national championship: 2018 Alabama Crimson Tide

Don’t let the sour ending to last season fool you into thinking 2018 Alabama wasn’t an all-time great team.

Led by record-setting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the deepest array of skill-position players in program history, Nick Saban’s Alabama death machine evolved from a slow-constricting python, typically dominating defensively and frustrating opposing offenses for 60 minutes, to a historically great offense that routinely removed all-doubt within the first 15 minutes of game action.

The Crimson Tide was not challenged in the regular season, rolling through their schedule at 12-0 with an average margin of victory of 36.5 points. Their closest game came in a 45-23 win over Texas A&M in Tuscaloosa in September.

Alabama’s perfect regular season ultimately led to a national title rematch against Georgia in Atlanta with the SEC Championship, and a spot in the College Football Playoff, on the line.

In a script straight out of Hollywood, Jalen Hurts came off the bench in a role-reversal from the previous season to replace an injured Tagovailoa. Hurts led the Crimson Tide to two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to once again come-from-behind and stun the Bulldogs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Alabama defeated Oklahoma 45-34 in the Orange Bowl to set up a fourth consecutive meeting with Clemson in the playoff, the third time with the national championship on the line.

Alabama was outclassed in a game that was thought to be one of the best in the history of the sport coming in, with the Tigers stunningly rolling to a 44-16 win over the Crimson Tide in Santa Clara.

The blowout win for Clemson has been overblown in the aftermath, as a confluence of circumstances led to this game getting away from Alabama, despite all advanced stats pointing to what should have been a much closer game.

Despite a 28-point loss to Clemson, the Crimson Tide still finished the season as S&P+’s No. 1 team, with the best rating since 2013 Florida State.