Alabama Wins National Title; Eliminates Split Title Doubters

New Orleans, LA

I'll admit it, I didn't think anyone in the country could dominate LSU like Alabama did tonight.

I thought if Alabama won it would be a single digit win that was hard fought and contested throughout. I gave Alabama zero chance to march into the Superdome, the location of LSUs last two national titles, and dominate from the first play to the final play.

In fact, Les Miles and I shared that belief, "I told my team I did not see it coming. And that's my fault," Miles said after the game.

The Crimson Tide didn't just win tonight, they dominated LSU.

Alabama has some bogus national titles on its resume, but this isn't one of them. This title is unanimous and complete. Alabama is the best team in college football.

Bama's domination was so complete that when I asked Les Miles if he'd make an argument for an AP national title, he responded with a litany of accomplishments and then closed with a whimper: "I think this team accomplished a lot. I think that's for the voters to figure."

The only person who would claim an AP national title for the Tigers was quarterback Jordan Jefferson. And Jefferson's play was so atrocious you couldn't help but wonder what Jarrett Lee might have done to Les Miles to see his career end without even breaking a sweat.

Since the game was such a bludgeoning, here's the video of Bourbon Street that I promised you. I'll have a Dixieland Delight style retrospective of the week that was on Bourbon Street, but suffice it to say that the party vastly exceeded the game. 

And neither Alabama nor LSU fans lost the party.  

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The two smoking hot girls in the Honey Badger t-shirts made better plays by wearing the Honey Badger t-shirts than anyone on LSU's offense did all night.

Bama's defense was stifling, among the best in the history of college football all season. Tonight they were perfect.

Yes, perfect.

Holding LSU to just 92 yards of total offense on 44 plays.

LSU looked like a high school team against Alabama.

I asked Nick Saban if this was the best defense he'd ever coached after the game and Saban wouldn't say that. Not quite. "I don't like to make comparisons," he said. But then he eventually continued, coming close to an endorsement of the view: "And I can't tell you what defense was the best. I can just tell you this was one of the most enjoyable teams to coach."

By coaching this team to his third BCS title, Nick Saban stamped himself as the greatest college football coach of his generation.

Saban has no peers; put simply he is the best at what he does.

How crazy are expectations for Saban?

In the post-game press conference he got this question: "Coach, this is your second championship victory in this building. It will be another four years that the BCS comes back to this building. Think you have to wait that long for another championship?"

That long!

Four years!

Most coaches spend their entire careers seeking an opportunity to win one title.

On the very night that he celebrates his second national title with Alabama, third overall, Nick Saban's already being asked whether it will take four years for him to win another.

Remember all the media and fans that griped when Nick Saban got a $4 million dollar contract?

Saban's the best buy this side of Berkshire Hathaway back in 1970.

Hell, at $4 million a year Nick Saban is a screaming bargain.

He's worth $14 million. Maybe $20 million a year.

Or more.

The best at what they do deserve a salary premium, and there's no doubt that Saban is the best at what he does.

Especially when we live in an era when "Jersey Shore's" The Situation made $5 million this year, a million more than Saban.

Saban's a superstar coach and tonight in New Orleans Nick Saban's defense played flawless football.

Nick Saban's got two titles at Alabama in five years, three in the past nine years -- and two of those years he coached the Dolphins. So in his past seven seasons as a college football coach Nick Saban has won three titles.

Let me repeat that, Nick Saban has won nearly half the BCS titles in his past seven years coaching college football.

If he coaches another decade at Alabama, here's a prediction for you, he's going to win at least two more titles.

That would get him to five titles, within hunting distance of the Bear.

Yep, Bama's got a coaching icon, a guy that we'll be talking about for generations.

Bear Bryant, meet Nick Saban, the coach that's finally fit to wear your houndstooth crown.