What is Alabama Football's Most Unbreakable Record?

ESPN's Chris Low, who broke the news of Nick Saban's retirement on Jan. 10, 2024, came out with a list on Wednesday of college football's 10 most unbreakable records.

As expected, Alabama is featured on it numerous times.

The Crimson Tide's first appearance on the list comes at No. 6 with former linebacker Derrick Thomas. In 1988, Thomas logged 27 sacks to go along with 39 tackles for loss––easily giving him the Dick Butkus National Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Thomas' dominant 1988 season as he went on to appear in nine NFL Pro Bowls and was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009––nine years after he passed away in a car accident at just 33-years-old.

Aside from former Arizona State linebacker Terrell Suggs' 24 in 2002 no FBS defender has even reached 20 sacks in the past two decades. Thomas also holds Alabama's second-most sacks in a season with 17 in 1987, but Will Anderson Jr. was right there in 2021 when he had 17.5 with 34 tackles for loss––the most by an FBS player this century.

Anderson was coached by the aforementioned Nick Saban, who rounds out this list at No. 10 for winning 100 straight games vs. unranked opponents for 14 years. Ranked teams fall to those outside of the top-25 on a weekly basis, but Saban had nothing to do with it.

One of Alabama's worst losses came at the hands of Louisiana-Monroe, who defeated the Crimson Tide in Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2007. That clearly lit a spark and that flame didn't go out until October 9, 2021, when Saban and company fell to Texas A&M 41-38 on the road at night.

Overall, Saban was 123-4 overall against unranked opponents during his Crimson Tide tenure. In terms of the streak, Florida head coach Steve Spurrier is No. 2 as the Gators had 73 consecutive wins against unranked opponents from 1990-2000.

Spurrier received the Paul "Bear" Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, and the former Alabama head coach's 27 straight wins against SEC opponents from 1976-80 landed in Low's honorable mentions.

During that time span, Alabama won every SEC game by an average margin of 21.6 points, but Bryant, who is known for his "offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships" phrase, allowed 20-plus points to opponents just three times in the streak's 27 games.

What do you think? Are there any other college football records set by former Alabama players, coaches or teams missing?

Chris Low's 10 Most Unbreakable CFB Records

1. Oklahoma's 47-game winning streak in the 1950s
2. Oklahoma State RB Barry Sanders' 2,628 rushing yards in 1988
3. Florida State's top-5 finishes in the AP Poll from 1987-2000
4. Oklahoma's 472.4 rushing yards per game in 1971
5. Florida QB John Reaves nine interceptions vs. Auburn in 1969
6. Alabama LB Derrick Thomas' 27 sacks in 1988
7. Oklahoma DB Antonio Perkins' three return touchdowns vs. UCLA in 2003
8. USC RB Marcus Allen's five consecutive 200-yard games in 1981
9. Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes' 819 yards of total offense vs. Oklahoma in 2016
10. Alabama HC Nick Saban winning 100 straight games vs. unranked opponents from 2007-21

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