Daily briefing: On Nick Saban and his team's dominance

Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:

Alabama dominates unranked foes

My former ESPN colleague Brad Edwards has published a book, “Dynasty By the Numbers,” that frames Alabama’s dominance under Nick Saban. Going through the book made me do some research of my own. For instance, Brad illustrates the Tide’s current streak of 98 victories against unranked opponents, which dates to 2008. Ohio State ranks seconds in that time in losses against unranked opponents — with 10. Even more amazing, Alabama hasn’t trailed an unranked opponent in the fourth quarter since 2015 (Tennessee), a span of 40 games. Only once in that time has an unranked opponent been tied with Alabama – last season, Ole Miss. The tie lasted 1:31.

Who says staff continuity is important?

Losing important assistants can spell the difference between a dynastic team and a suddenly ordinary one. That’s what happened to Bobby Bowden at Florida State. That’s what happened to Ed Orgeron at LSU. It’s irrelevant to Saban. His six national championship teams at Alabama had 55 assistant coaching slots, and they were filled by 35 different men. Edwards put a finer point on it: The 12 coordinator positions had eight different guys. From the 2017 championship team to the 2020 championship team, Saban had to deal with a complete turnover of his coaching staff.

Special teams have been special

Saban’s early teams won with dominant defense. As the game changed, Saban proved he could, too. The 2020 team won the national championship with one of the most dominant offenses in the history of the game. What has been overlooked is that the Tide has been dominant in the kicking game, too. From 2008 through last season, Alabama has returned 24 punts for touchdowns and amassed more than 1,000 punt return yards more than any other FBS team. And for everyone who remembers the Tide’s kicking woes against LSU (2011) and Auburn (2013), there is the NCAA record set last season by kicker Will Reichard, who made 84 PATs and 14 field goals without a miss.

Selected stories from Ivan Maisel:

The coach and the senator: The long friendship between Nick Saban and Joe Manchin

Clay Helton is content in the shadows – but he must get USC in spotlight