Consecutive Wins Against No. 1 Teams in Same Season? Nick Saban Can Make History

All Things CW: The Alabama coach has had the record for most wins against No. 1 teams for nearly a decade. But he'll have the chance to set a new mark at the Rose Bowl.

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban tells the story every once in a while, and can now even laugh about it a little, although he certainly didn't at the time. During his first game as a head coach at Michigan State back in 1995, he found himself on the sideline against none other than future Hall of Fame coach Tom Osborne, with Nebraska in the middle of arguably its greatest run. The visiting Cornhuskers absolutely crushed the Spartans, 50-10.  

"The score did not indicate how bad they beat us,” Saban said during one of his recollections. “I hadn't been in college football for four or five years, being in the NFL. I'm thinking we're never going to win a game. We'll never win a game here at Michigan State. I must have taken a bad job, wrong job, no players, something.

“I remember Coach Osborne when we shook hands after the game, he put his arm around me and whispered in my ear, ‘You're not really as bad as you think.’ So I think he knew he had a pretty good team, and we actually ended up winning six games, so we weren't really probably as bad as I thought.”

Here's the thing about that loss, it wasn't against the nation's No. 1 team. The Cornhuskers were "only" the preseason No. 2 selection in the AP Top 25, with 15-first-place votes compared to Florida State's 31. A year later, Nebraska was No. 1 during their Week 2 rematch and put on a similar show, shellacking the Spartans 55-14, for a combined score in the home-and-home series of 105-24.

More often that not, that's what happens when most coaches face the No. 1 team, which is usually ranked that way for good reasons. Some 27 years later, it's one of three times a Saban-coached team has lost to the one sitting atop the poll. Historically, that number is pretty normal among top coaches. 

Here's the statistic that's nothing short of jaw-dropping, which we've been following for the past decade: Saban has notched nine career wins against No. 1 opposition, including the win that defined the early part of his career, 28-24 at Ohio State, in 1998.

That's more than twice as many as any coach in college football history. 

Yes, he's statistically benefitted from the expansion of the postseason, but it's not like his peers have been able to do anything comparable. Among them, Dabo Swinney is 2-2 when facing a No. 1 team, Brian Kelly is 1-3, and Kirby Smart is 1-2. Mack Brown is 2-5.

It needs to be noted that facing No. 1 teams doesn't happen that often to begin with, even for the biggest names in coaching. For example, when Paul W. "Bear Bryant took over at Alabama in 1958, his Crimson Tide teams didn't face a top-ranked opponent until the 1972 Orange Bowl loss to Nebraska.

But in addition to the record for wins against No. 1 teams, Saban is on the cusp of doing something else that no one one in college football has accomplished. 

Alabama is coming off a 27-24 victory against No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, and will next face new-No. 1 Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl. The games may be roughly a month apart, but they're still next to each other on the schedule. 

Facing the No. 1 team more than once in a season is extremely rare. Alabama did it in 2011, when it lost the "Game of the Century" to LSU 9-6 in the regular season, but won the rematch in the BCS Championship, 21-0. Both times the Tigers were No. 1. Auburn did it in 2013, topping No. 1 Alabama in the Iron Bowl, but then lost to No. 1 Florida State in the BCS Championship.  

In 1984, Michigan under Bo Schembechler opened with a 22-14 victory against No. 1 Miami, and went on to lose in the Holiday Bowl to No. 1 BYU, 24-17, to finish 6-6. Amazingly, that same season Oklahoma and head coach Barry Switzer tied No. 1 Texas, 15-15, and five weeks later won at No. 1 Nebraska 17-7.

In 1955, Maryland under Jim Tatum upset No. 1 UCLA on Sept. 24, 7-0, but lost to No. 1 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 20-6. Similarly, in 1962, UCLA under Bill Barnes opened its season by upsetting No. 1 Ohio State, and then got a shot at rival Southern Cal when the Trojans were No. 1, but lost 14-3. That same year, Wisconsin knocked Northwestern from No. 1 with a 37-6 pounding on Nov. 10, but lost to USC in the Rose Bowl, 42-37.   

Note that none of those teams pulled off the No. 1 sweep and won both games. So on that level alone what Alabama is attempting to do is unprecedented.  

If the Crimson Tide wins, Saban will be the first coach to win back-to-back games during the same season against two different No. 1 teams in college football history. 

The "same season" distinction is important because Jimmy Johnson once pulled it off over two seasons. His Miami team topped off the 1987 season with a win over No. 1 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 20-14, to win the national title. However, the Hurricanes weren't considered the preseason team to beat in 1988. They were voted sixth and took the snub out on No. 1 Florida State, crushing the Seminoles in the opener, 31-0.

A win in the Rose Bowl would obviously be Saban's 10th over a No. 1 program. However, he couldn't possibly make it three straight because there won't be another poll before the National Championship Game, but on paper it would likely go down as the toughest three-game stretch in terms of rankings in college football history.  

Additionally, with the College Football Playoff set to expand to 12 teams, the record would be even tougher to match as the chances of a team that tops No. 1 in a conference championship subsequently facing the new No. 1 team next are almost none. Under the new format, the top-seeded team gets a bye into the quarterfinals. 

Nick Saban vs. No. 1 Teams

Michigan State

1. Sept. 7, 1996, at Nebraska, L 55-14
2. Nov. 7, 1998, at Ohio State, W 28-24

LSU

None

Alabama

1. Dec. 9, 2009, vs. Florida, SEC Championship, W 32-13
2. Nov. 5, 2011, LSU, L 9-6
3. Jan. 9, 2012, LSU, BCS Championship, W 21-0
4. Jan. 7, 2013, Notre Dame, BCS Championship, W 42-14
5. Nov. 15, 2014, Mississippi State, W 25-20
6. Jan. 11, 2016, Clemson, CFP Championship, W 45-40
7. Jan. 1, 2018, Clemson, CFP Semifinal, Sugar Bowl, W 24-6
8. Nov. 9, 2019, LSU, L 46-41
9. Dec. 4, 2021, Georgia, SEC Championship, W 41-24
10. Dec. 2, 2023, Georgia, SEC Championship, W 27-24
11. Jan. 1, 2014, Michigan, CFP Semifinal, Rose Bowl ... to be updated 

Beating the Best

Saban's winning percentage has been defying gravity, meaning that his winning percentage actually stays the same or goes up when facing tougher competition. 

Through 2013 he won 59.3 percent of his games against ranked opponents, and 61.6 percent against teams in the top 10. Against teams in the top five he was 56.5 percent (13-10), and 66.7 percent against opponents ranked No. 1 (4-2).

Now check out his numbers at Alabama:

• Top 25: 82-24 (77.4 percent)
• Top 10: 36-14 (72.0)
• Top 5: 24-10 (70.6)
• No. 1: 8-2 (80.0)

Most Wins Against No. 1 Opponents 

The Associated Press poll was created in 1936.

Nick Saban 9
Lou Holtz 4
Jimmy Johnson 4
Jack Mollenkopf 4
Joe Paterno 4
Paul W. “Bear” Bryant 3
Dennis Erickson 3
Urban Meyer 3
Bo Schembechler 3
Barry Switzer 3

Jack Mollenkopf was at Purdue from 1956-69, and went 84-39-9. All but two of his teams were ranked at some point of the season, with the 1968 Boilermakers No. 1 in the preseason poll. However, his best finish was No. 7 in 1966, when Purdue went 8-2 and defeated Southern California in the Rose Bowl.

Best Winning Percentage Against No. 1

This only includes coaches with three-plus wins against No. 1 opponents.

Jimmy Johnson 4-1, 80.0 percent
Nick Saban 9-3, 75.0
Lou Holtz 4-2, 66.7
Jack Mollenkopf 4-2, 66.7
Urban Meyer 3-2, 60.0
Barry Switzer 3-2-2, 57.1
Paul W. “Bear” Bryant 3-3, 50.0
Dennis Erickson 3-3, 50.0
Bo Schembechler 3-5-1, 38.9
Joe Paterno 4-8, 33.3

Bud Wilkinson is one of the few coaches with a winning record against No. 1 teams, at 2-1, but his Sooners were 5-9 against opponents ranked in the top five. Meanwhile, USC’s John Robinson was 2-0 against No. 1 teams.

Some others of note include Bob Stoops 2-3, Woody Hayes 2-3, John McKay 2-3, Steve Spurrier 2-4, Ara Parseghian 2-5, Frank Broyles 2-6, Bobby Bowden 1-5, Tom Osborne 1-5, Les Miles 1-6, Frank Beamer 0-7, Jim Tressel 1-1 and Frank Leahy 0-1-1.

Pete Carroll never faced a No. 1 team during his years at Southern California. The Trojans' current coach, Lincoln Riley, is 0-2, but both games were when he was at Oklahoma. 

5 Additional Things to Consider ... 

1. Saban's record against No. 1 opponents is even more impressive when factoring in that he's coached the most games as the AP Top 25's No. 1 team, 98. In comparison among active coaches, Kirby Smart’s had 31, and Dabo Swinney 21.
2. The Crimson Tide has been ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 at least once each season since 2008. The 15-year streak is the longest by any program and coach in the history of the AP rankings. The previous long streak by any one team was seven seasons by Miami (Fla.) from 1986-92. The previous streak by one coach is six straight seasons, which was accomplished by Frank Leahy at Notre Dame in 1943 and continued from 1946-50 following an absence while Leahy served in the Navy.
3. For his career, Saban is 30-15 against top-five opponents. No other coach in history has more than 18 (Bobby Bowden, who had a .378 winning percentage against top-five teams).
4. In Saban’s six national championship seasons at Alabama, his teams have gone 18-2 (90 percent) against top-10 opponents. This season he's 1-0 (Texas, Ole Miss, Tennessee and LSU were all between No. 11 and 17 when they played. If Alabama wins the national title the percentage will go up to 91.3).
5. Saban has 104 career wins against AP Top 25 teams, including 82 at Alabama. Rounding out the top five all-time is Joe Paterno (86), Bobby Bowden (82), Paul W. “Bear” Bryant (66), and Steve Spurrier (64).

Christopher Walsh's notes column All Things CW regularly appears on BamaCentral

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