What was Nick Saban's Best Defense at Alabama?

It seems only fitting that The Saban 250 concludes with a look at the defensive team rankings, especially since the former head coach really made his mark on that side of the ball. Before he became a head coach, Nick Saban was a defensive back himself at Kent State, a secondary coach as he worked his way up as an assistant coach, and the coordinator at both Michigan State and the Cleveland Browns.

Of course, he once called those four years on Lake Erie the "worst of my life," but he's always maintained a good relationship with his former boss, for Bill Belichick. The point is, when Saban arrived at Alabama, the Crimson Tide first made its mark on defense as the 2008 led the way to the SEC Championship Game.

Midway through his time in Tuscaloosa, Alabama did give up some of its defensive prowess in order to improve offensively, if for no reason other than the up-tempo play forced the defense to be on the field more. However, take note that of the 17 seasons Saban was coaching the Crimson Tide it finished nationally in the top five in total defense nine times, and was in the top 10 another season at No. 7. It's worst finish in that statistical category was No. 32.

Nevertheless, there are really only two options when it comes to selecting Sban's best defense, 2011 and 2016. The 2011 team was the first since Oklahoma in 1986 to finish No. 1 in each of the four major defensive categories: total, scoring, rushing and pass efficiency. It also shut out LSU in the national championship game. The 2016 team had more talent as its the only unit in which every starter was drafted, and it came close to matching the 2011 statistical rankings. However, the 2016 team nearly averaged a touchdown off turnovers per game, with 12.

Including kick and punt returns, the 2016 Crimson Tide recorded a single-season record of 15 non-offensive touchdowns, which was the most in a season by any FBS team in the last 20 years. It might take another two decades for that to be equalled. Alabama also scored a non-offensive touchdown in 10 straight games, stretching from to the College Football Playoff semifinal against Michigan State on Dec. 31, 2015 to the Texas A&M game on Oct. 22, 2016, for 14 non-offensive scores in that span – four interceptions, four punt returns, five fumble recoveries and a kickoff return.

Overall, Alabama notched 93 non-offensive touchdowns during the Saban era, including 40 interceptions, 14 fumble recoveries and 10 blocked kicks or punts. The other 29 were all on kick or punt returns.

Do the touchdowns off turnovers put 2016 over the top? Take a look and decide for yourself:

As a reminder about the team capsules:

• Consensus All-Americans is the NCAA standard, which includes only the Associated Press, American Football Coaches Association, Water Camp Foundation, Football Writers Association of America and the Sporting News. A * indicates the player was a unanimous selection.

• The future draft picks are among starters only. The listed starters are straight from the Alabama record book and each season summary. For shared roles only one player was considered and the total of future draft picks could not exceed 11. For the first-round selections, the player with better draft status was used.

• Major Awards are prominent national honors only. For All-SEC, only the coaches’ first-team selections were used. Major stats and rankings are from the NCAA.