"They never did that" - Ex-Gators HC brags about major achievement Nick Saban-led Alabama never managed to do

Nick Saban accomplished a lot in his 17 years as the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Six national championships, nine SEC championships, and a constant presence in the top 10 AP Poll rankings prove that Saban is one of the strongest coaches in college football history.

However, despite all of this success, there is one thing that Saban could not do. And that is to win four consecutive SEC titles. But this is something that former Florida Gators coach Steve Spurrier was able to do.

Spurrier spoke about this achievement during his recent appearance on the "Another Dooley Noted" podcast

"We were talking about that the other night, his (Former Florida QB Danny Wuerffel) four years here, gotta go back a while, Gators, but we won four SEC (championships) in a row," the former coach said. "And Alabama never did that. They got three in a row one time. That's a record that I don't think anybody's going to break that one."

The four consecutive SEC titles that Florida won were between 1993 and 1996. This was during a period of dominance for the Gators under Spurrier, who would go on to lead his alma mater to the 1996 national championship, defeating rivals Florida State.

To make this stat even more interesting, three of the four SEC championship wins were against Alabama. This included the record-setting 1996 championship win (the fourth consecutive), where the strongly favored Gators easily beat Alabama thanks to a strong performance from quarterback Danny Wuerffel, who played a key role in Spurrier's high-scoring offense that the coach became known for.

However, Spurrier and the Gators were unable to make it five consecutive SEC wins in 1997, as they did not make the conference championship game. They would not win the title again until 2000, the last one that Spurrier won in his time in Florida.

How close did Nick Saban come to level Steve Spurrier?

The four SEC Championship Game wins that Spurrier has are something that Nick Saban was able to match. However, Saban came close as his Alabama won three consecutive SEC championships between 2014 and 2016. All three of these were won in dominant fashion, with the final two coming in wins against the Florida Gators.

However, the 2017 iteration of the championship game did not feature the Crimson Tide. Instead, rivals Auburn took its spot after the Tigers defeated Bama in the Iron Bowl.

Despite not making the SEC Championship Game and having the opportunity to level Spurrier's record, Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide would go on to make the College Football Playoff that season and win the national championship.