Bama has made neutral sites into homes away from home
The Tide take their show on the road often, and usually come home victorious.
Regardless of where or when you play a Nick Saban Alabama team, you’re probably gonna lose. Saban’s Alabama has lost 20 times in 11 seasons, and six of them came in his first season in 2007. Five of those six don’t matter. One of them was against UL-Monroe, and therefore, it very much does matter.
Alabama plays a lot of neutral-site games. It’s almost a yearly tradition for Bama to bookend its regular season with such games — the various trips to Atlanta and Dallas to kick the year off, and regular appearances in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.
If the Tide didn’t lose to Auburn in 2017, they would have had the chance to play in Mercedes Benz Stadium three times instead of merely twice (against Florida State in Week 1, against Georgia in the national title game). Atlanta’s been a home away from home for Saban’s Tide through the years, with five Chick-Fil-A kickoff games, and six trips to the SEC title game. Saban’s Tide are _____ in Atlanta after beating Georgia there in January 2018.
This year, the venue is new. Bama opens in Orlando against Louisville.
The Tide are more than a three-touchdown favorite. In these particular situations — Week 1 games at neutral sites under Saban — the Tide are even better than normal:
Week 1s
- 2008, Atlanta: Alabama beat Clemson, 34-10
- 2009, Atlanta: Alabama beat Virginia Tech, 34-24
- 2012, Dallas: Alabama beat Michigan, 41-14
- 2013, Atlanta: Alabama beat Virginia Tech, 35-10
- 2014, Atlanta: Alabama beat West Virginia, 33-23
- 2015, Dallas: Alabama beat Wisconsin, 35-17
- 2016, Dallas: Alabama beat USC, 52-6
- 2017, Atlanta: Alabama beat Florida State, 24-7
Combined record: 8-0.
The Tide appear comfortable in these environments, just generally. They have only messed up once in Atlanta SEC title games.
- 2008: Alabama lost to Florida, 31-20
- 2009: Alabama beat Florida, 32-13
- 2012: Alabama beat Georgia, 32-28
- 2014: Alabama beat Missouri, 42-13
- 2015: Alabama beat Florida, 29-15
- 2016: Alabama beat Florida, 54-16
Combined record: 5-1.
In national championship or Playoff games, always played at neutral sites, Saban’s Alabama’s lost just twice.
- 2009: BCS Championship Game, Alabama beat Texas 37-21 (something something Colt McCoy injury blah blah blah)
- 2011: BCS Championship Game, Alabama beat LSU, 21-0.
- 2012: BCS Championship Game, Alabama beat Notre Dame, 42-14
- 2014: Sugar Bowl semifinal, Alabama lost to Ohio State, 42-35
- 2015: Cotton Bowl semifinal, Alabama beat Michigan State, 38-0
- 2015: National Championship Game, Alabama beat Clemson, 45-40
- 2016: Peach Bowl semifinal, Alabama beat Washington, 24-7
- 2016: National Championship Game, Alabama lost to Clemson, 35-31
- 2017: Sugar Bowl semifinal, Alabama beat Clemson, 24-6
- 2018: National Championship Game, Alabama beat Georgia, 26-23
Combined record: 8-2, way worse than the Tide’s usual winning percentage, but consider that they’re playing ultra-elite teams in all of these games.
The best chance to beat Alabama at a neutral site is to face them in a random year when they’re not really playing for nearly as much.
There have only been a few such occasions:
- 2008 season’s Sugar Bowl: Alabama lost to Utah, 31-17 (Alabama fans will swear this one doesn’t matter because the Tide didn’t care)
- 2010 season’s Capital One Bowl: Alabama beat Michigan State, 49-7
- 2014 season’s Sugar Bowl: Alabama lost to Oklahoma, 45-31 (see above note corresponding to Utah game)
Combined record: 1-3.
Lumping ‘em all together: Alabama is 22-6 in neutral games under Saban.
But 21-3 in the neutral-site games that have Alabama-like stakes.
Alabama apparently isn’t preoccupied with playing these games forever, at least not when the Tide can control it.
Between 2019 and 2021, Alabama has neutral-site Week 1 dates with Duke, Miami, and USC. But the Tide appear set to play fewer of these games going forward.
“Neutral-site games really launched our program in Alabama when we first came there years ago,” Saban said. “But I think philosophically we’re sort of changing our thoughts on that and our future scheduling and trying to get more home and homes.”
Earlier this summer, Bama announced that it would play Texas in 2022 and 2023 as well as Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029. Both of those series will be in on-campus venues, and it’s certainly conceivable that Saban will be around for the that Texas game even though he’ll turn 67 this fall. Saban recently said he has no signs of slowing down.
As for SEC title games and Playoff games: it’s safe to say that tradition isn’t showing any signs of slowing down either. The Tide will get plenty more chances to win in NFL stadiums.