Is Alabama the best college football program ever?

The Alabama Crimson Tide have a total of 26 NCAA Division l Championships in school history, dating back to their first in 1925. They have three in golf, six in women's team gymnastics, and one in softball. The other 16 (some might say 18, but only 16 are officially NCAA recognized) all come from the Alabama football program, which has won back-to-back championships on four separate occasions.

Alabama Crimson Tide have been historically great in NCAA

CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T - Ohio State v Alabama

Since 2009, Alabama have been a college football dynasty, thanks to head coach Nick Saban. Since joining Alabama in 2007, Saban has led the team to six championships and has them as the reigning, defending champions entering the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship Game this month.

The Crimson Tide have been placed atop the AP Polls and College Football rankings so frequently that they have become hated by the rest of the college football fraternity. Are the "New England Patriots" of college football the best program in history, though?

The first college football championship was in 1869, fifty years prior to Alabama's first title. 187 national champions have been crowned since then, with only a total of 44 different teams winning. Just four teams have more than 10 championships and Alabama is ranked second, behind Yale with 18. Technically, Princeton has 28 but only 15 are recognized by the NCAA (they came before the poll era).

Yale hasn't won since 1927, although they did win five straight on two separate occasions. Football has greatly evolved since the 1920s and it is almost an entirely different game today. In the modern era (since 1998 with the BCS format), Alabama has won six titles. The next best record is three by LSU, although they shared the title in 2003 with USC.

In that span, Alabama have seen the second-most players drafted to the NFL since 2000 with 127 (Ohio State has 141). They are also tied with Ohio State for the most players taken in the first round since 2000 (31). The only thing the Crimson Tide does not have since 2000 is a player taken at #1. In addition, Alabama happens to have had the most alums playing in the NFL in 2021 heading into Week 1 with 53.

While Alabama's quarterbacks can easily work their way through the NCAA and capture national championships, very few make the transition to the NFL and succeed. Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts and Mac Jones are young NFL players who have all won a title with Alabama and are arguably the best pro players from the program since Ken Stabler in 1966.

When you factor in Nick Saban, who is arguably the best coach in all of football outside of Bill Belichick, you could have a legitimate case for Alabama being the best college football program ever. However, it's nearly impossible to name any team as the best in college football history. Since college football dates back to 1869, the game has altered and changed throughout the decades.

Yale could easily be considered as the best program from the early years. USC was a powerhouse during the era of World War ll. Penn State and Joe Paterno had their time through the late 1990s, followed by Ohio State in the early 2000s.

But does Alabama perhaps deserve the modern title? Does winning championships make them the best program ever? No, but it helps. Does having the second-most players drafted in the last 21 years make them the best ever? No, but it helps. Does having a once-in-a-lifetime coach like Nick Saban cement their all-time status? No, but that really helps.

The answer would have to be that the Alabama Crimson Tide is one of the best football programs we've seen in decades, but they cannot definitively be named as the best ever. They are easily in the top three or five, but programs like the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Oklahoma Sooners have better cases (even though they don't have as many national championships).

It's an unpopular opinion, but the best college football program ever needs to be relevant throughout the history of college football and Alabama is not quite there, despite their recent success that has been unmatched in many ways. There are also arguments against Alabama for the way they are ranked in the polls and their schedules over the years.

However, you can go ahead and call Nick Saban the best college football ever, if that helps. If Alabama can remain a powerhouse through the next era of college football, then the case for them being considered the best ever can be reopened. For now, Alabama is the best college football team of the last 20 years, which is still an impressive feat.