the last time alabama won a national championship was 2009.
the last time alabama won a national championship was 2009.
when was the last time alabama won a national championship?
2009
starting in his eighth season, alabama began the year ranked no.2 in the preseason ap and coaches poll for the third time in four years. it was the fifth straight season the crimson tide started the year in the top two and the seventh consecutive year in the top five. in the season opener, alabama improved to 4–0 in the chick-fil-a kickoff game beating west virginia 33–23 in the first meeting between the two schools. the tide won their home opener the next week over florida atlantic 41–0 after the game was called in the fourth quarter due to lightning. the following week they defeated southern miss 52–12. in their conference opener, alabama put up 645 yards of offense beating florida 42–21. following a bye week alabama was voted no.1 in the coaches poll marking the seventh consecutive season alabama has reached the top spot. alabama suffered their first loss of the season losing to #11 ole miss 23–17 which ended a 10-game win streak against the rebels. in saban's 100thgame with the tide, alabama bounced back, narrowly defeating arkansas 14–13 for its eighth consecutive victory in the series. the next week the tide dominated #21 texas a&m shutting them out 59–0 which is the 4thlargest victory in school history. in their annual rivalry with tennessee, alabama won their eighth straight over the vols 34–20. after a second bye week, alabama traveled to baton rouge to play #14 lsu. after a late field goal, alabama sent the game into overtime defeating the tigers 20–13. in a matchup of top five teams, alabama defeated #1 mississippi state 25–20 marking the first time alabama has defeated an ap no.1 team at home. alabama then defeated fcs opponent western carolina 48–14. the win secured alabama its seventh consecutive ten-win season. in the iron bowl, alabama avenged their only regular season loss of last season defeating their in state rival #15 auburn 55–44, the most points scored in the rivalry's history. the tide finished the regular season 11–1 for the 4thstraight season and won the sec west. it was saban's 5thdivision title at alabama (8thoverall for his career). in the 2014 sec championship game, saban won his 5thsec title (3rdwith alabama) defeating #14 missouri 42–13. it was alabama's 24thsec championship and first since 2012. alabama was selected for the college football playoff as the no.1 seed and played the no.4 seed ohio state in the sugar bowl, losing 42–35. the loss was saban's third in sugar bowls at alabama. the tide finished the season at 12–2.
nick saban
with the huge win, the buckeyes advanced to their first national championship game since 2007, and played the rose bowl champion oregon ducks, whom they defeated 42-20 for their 8th national championship. this was ohio state's first win over alabama in 4 tries. they had been 0-3 in the other games played between the teams. the loss by alabama was the southeastern conference's second straight loss in a major bowl game to the buckeyes, along with arkansas's loss in the 2011 sugar bowl. alabama's loss meant that 2015 was the first national championship to not feature an sec team since 2005, when usc and texas played in that season's rose bowl. the loss also assured the crimson tide a second straight season without appearing in the national championship, the first time that alabama has missed the national championship in back to back seasons since 2007 and 2008. ohio state's 15-point comeback over the tide is the largest ever comeback against a nick saban-led team in a bowl game and the 2nd largest comeback against the crimson tide under saban all time, with the largest being auburn's 24-0 comeback in 2010. the loss by alabama also dropped them to 0-3 under saban in sugar bowls. however, they would eventually win a sugar bowl in 2018, beating clemson 24-6. this was the 3rd time in the saban era that alabama had blown a lead of 14 or more points, with each of the other losses to auburn in 2010 and 2013. alabama would return to the playoffs the next year, and would win the cotton bowl over another big 10 team, michigan state, 38-0, and championship over clemson, 45-40. as of 2019, alabama has appeared in the playoffs in each season since it's existence, and has been to 4 national championships, winning 2 and losing 2. ohio state would return to the playoffs again in 2016, but they would lose to clemson 31-0 in the fiesta bowl. as of 2019, this remains the last time that these 2 teams have met. no future regular season meetings are scheduled and they haven't met in a bowl game since this one.
2015 sugar bowl