Comment by the judge: Informative, anecdote-filled story on Barry Sanders’ magical 1988 season at Oklahoma State. Thirty years later, with a view from the insiders at Oklahoma State and Sanders himself, we get a lot of the reasons why that may be the greatest single season by a running back in college football history. From a Heisman Trophy nobody to a Heisman Trophy winner.

By Jake Trotter

ESPN.com

The first time Barry Sanders touched the football in 1988, he scored a touchdown. Fittingly, the final time he carried it for Oklahoma State that season, he scored as well.

Both plays were equally spectacular and bookended the greatest individual season the college football world has ever seen, and 30 years later, Sanders’ ’88 season remains — like so many of his runs — untouchable.

“You can argue about a lot of different people, who’s the best ever in whatever sport,” said Mike Gundy, who before becoming OSU’s head coach was Sanders’ college quarterback. “LeBron James and Michael Jordan in the NBA. Jim Brown and whoever else in pro football. But college football? There’s nobody that can touch the guy. Just can’t.

“There’s nobody that compares to him.”

In ’88, Sanders didn’t rewrite the records books, he incinerated them. He rushed for 2,850 yards, scored 44 touchdowns and broke 34 NCAA records.

In the years since, offense has exploded in the college game, while the pace has quickened.

And yet, most of Sanders’ FBS records remain intact.

“If he were playing in today’s offenses, he very well could’ve rushed for 4,000 yards, easy,” Gundy said. “Look at the number of plays that we have on offense today compared to back then. We huddled up, we were slow. And the majority of the games very seldom was he ever touching the field in the fourth quarter because we were blowing teams out.”

More…

Comment by the judge: Suicide: Amazing story weaving the writer’s personal emotions and experience with that of the parents of the Washington State quarterback who committed suicide. “A club no parent ever wants to join” is an insightful empathy that only someone with intimate knowledge of the pain and heartache could put into words. Phenomenal.

By Ivan Maisel

ESPN.com

IRVINE, Calif. — I came of age in the wake of Woodward and Bernstein, when young journalists were taught to be as neutral as the painted highway stripe. After nearly four decades as a sportswriter, I have learned to negotiate a middle ground between my training and my life experience. Some stories demand more of the latter.

I understood that the moment I read last January that Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski ended his life. He was a college junior, 21 years old, the second of three children, hundreds of miles away from home.

Almost three years earlier, my son Max ended his life. He was a college junior, the second of three children, 21 years old, hundreds of miles away from home.

Like a winemaker trying to create a structured red, how much of the skin you leave in the juice changes the color and character of the final product. I’ve got a lot of skin in this one.

There’s often an immediate intimacy among parents whose children have ended their lives. We get it. The loss of a child is an awful subject, so awful that it makes people uncomfortable. They don’t know what to say. One of the many secrets of The Club No One Wants to Join is that we love to talk about the children we’ve lost. Talking about them keeps them present.

But people hesitate, sometimes under the guise of protecting the feelings of the bereaved. I would say, always with a smile to smooth the delivery of the sarcasm, “You know, if you hadn’t brought Max up, I wouldn’t have been thinking of him.”

When you live with the awful every moment of every day, the awful becomes everyday. It is no longer so daunting. When someone told me I was living “a parent’s worst nightmare,” I responded, “No, you wake up from nightmares.”

The first time I called Mark Hilinski, Tyler’s father, we spoke for 1 hour, 10 minutes. “I had never talked to anybody — in my spot,” Mark said later, with a mirthless laugh. “Got emails, got letters, got cards, read a ton. … But that was the first time I had talked to anybody that kinda sat over here, and I appreciated it.”

More…

By Christopher Walsh

SEC Country

Last of 10 Parts

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In this case, the one called Angel doesn’t want to think about it.

In December 2016, Angel Taylor and her husband Anthony were the 16^th recipients of a house built by Habitat for Humanity in partnership with the Nick’s Kids Foundation. While the organization named in honor of Nick Saban’s father was originally created to help children in need, it expanded its directive following the devastating tornado that hit in 2011, including the building of a home for every Alabama football national championship.

It changed her family’s life “dramatically.” While Angel was still feeling the effects of heart surgery, and Anthony was trying to earn a master’s degree in religious studies while also working as a shuttle driver, they were living in a dilapidated house handed down from her grandmother. It was deemed unsalvageable from storm damage.

“My kids can live in a house in which the structure is sound and the air is good,” she said. “Big change.

“We’re definitely big Alabama fans.”

What Angel doesn’t want to think about is where her family might be had Saban not agreed to leave the Miami Dolphins to take over the Crimson Tide in 2007. Without him there’s probably no national championships over the last decade, no statue in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium and no “16 for 16” effort.

There’s also no Rocky Block, dismantling of Notre Dame or onside kick against Clemson.

But that’s only the beginning.

“I think his going to Alabama has been incredible for college football,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. “Having Alabama on its 10th year of the dynasty has been outstanding for college football. Maybe not if you’re at Auburn or LSU, or are an SEC fan competing against Alabama, but any time you have a program that’s raising the bar and forcing other coaches and other programs to try and compete with them, I think it’s awesome.”

Now imagine it didn’t happen. The entire landscape of college football would be altered, from the rulebook to TV ratings.

Similar to the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, in which Jimmy Stewart’s character is shown by an angel what would have happened had he never been born, the repercussions would have been extensive and wide-ranging.

“I believe there would be success, but certainly not at the level we’ve seen,” Tuscaloosa mayor Walter Maddox summarized. “Saban is a once-in-a-generation coach who’s not only been able to sustain success, but sustain excellence in a system that doesn’t promote it.”

It’s more remarkable when considering the things that had to fall into place for former athletic director Mal Moore to hire Saban. They include Dennis Franchione sneaking out of town, Mike Price blowing his opportunity, Tim Tebow opting for Florida over Alabama, Mike Shula losing to Mississippi State and Rich Rodriguez turning down an offer to stay at West Virginia.

What if Miss Terry had never let Moore in the front door before Nick called to say he’d decided not to meet with him? Or Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga had persuaded Saban to stay and fulfill his contract?

“I think it would have been a tremendous letdown if he hadn’t gotten Saban, there’s no question about that,” said Steve Townsend, Moore’s former special assistant and author of the 2014 book Crimson Heart: Let Me Tell You My Story. “As for Plan B, there were some people who probably would have been considered and done a good job, but I don’t think there was any doubt that Saban was his guy.”

The most popular alternate-reality theories center around the Sabans sticking with the NFL for at least another season. Had Miami signed free agent Drew Brees, whom Saban wanted to add only to be overruled by the team’s medical staff due to the quarterback coming off reconstructive shoulder surgery, he might not have been coming off his only losing season as a head coach.

Instead, Saban’s departure set off a chain reaction that changed football forever.

“It’s widely believed among Louisiana football fans that had the Dolphins signed Brees then Saban would have had a better 2006 season, making him more likely to stay in Miami, Bama hires someone else and of course the Saints might not ever have won the Super Bowl,” said Scott Rabalais, columnist for the Advocate in Baton Rouge.

But that’s well into the ramifications.

First, consider the epicenter, Alabama, and the most important people in all of this, the players. Saban’s first full recruiting class in 2008, which turned the Crimson Tide into instant contenders, doesn’t happen.

Running back Mark Ingram Jr. is the first person you could scratch off the Crimson Tide roster. He came to Alabama because of the relationship his parents had developed with Saban at Michigan State. Ingram lived in Flint, Mich., and wasn’t considered an elite prospect, with some services rating him only a 3-star talent.

If the program’s first Heisman Trophy winner didn’t attend Alabama, one must wonder about the other as well, especially since Derrick Henry also was from out of state. “Without you,” Henry said in reference to Saban during his Heisman acceptance speech, “I wouldn’t be here.”

The Crimson Tide might not have signed any of the running backs who wore crimson and white over the last 10 years, along with most of the top prospects at every other position.

“I probably wouldn’t have,” said B.J. Scott, Saban’s first consensus 5-star signee with the Crimson Tide.

Although he ended up transferring to South Alabama in 2011 for more playing time, Scott was considered the catalyst for the initial class. He helped influence other players to join him, and the coaches establish a strong foothold in the talent-rich Mobile area.

It paid off immediately with prize additions like wide receiver Julio Jones, who at one point appeared destined for Oklahoma, and safety Mark Barron.

“Once I was committed, I was committed all the way,” Scott said. “I don’t know who else would have.”

Alabama also plucked linebacker Dont’a Hightower out of Lewisburg, Tenn., two-time All-American defensive tackle Terrence Cody from the junior college ranks and linebacker Courtney Upshaw out of Eufala, Ala., a part of the state long established as Auburn territory.

Without Saban and running backs coach Burton Burns, who got an offer he couldn’t turn down to leave Clemson, Alabama would have had a much tougher time drawing top players out of Louisiana.

Players like Landon Collins, Eddie Lacy and Cam Robinson might have stayed in the Bayou along with strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran, who was with the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets (now called the Pelicans). Similarly, Alabama probably wouldn’t have hired head trainer Jeff Allen from Central Florida or director of performance nutrition Amy Bragg from Texas A&M.

If Kirby Smart didn’t follow Saban to Alabama and become his defensive coordinator, he wouldn’t be the head coach at Georgia. Jim McElwain wouldn’t be the head coach at Florida. Jeremy Pruitt might still be at the high school level. The coaches Saban threw a lifeline to, including Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian and Tosh Lupoi, could be in very different places.

Flip it around, and consider who could be coaching some of Alabama’s rivals.

Where would Tommy Tuberville be today? In 2007, Auburn was in full control of the Iron Bowl rivalry and won its sixth straight in the series that season. The following year, though, Alabama won in crushing fashion, 36-0.

Having lost six of the last seven games in 2008 and missing out on a bowl while Alabama played in the SEC Championship, Tuberville was the third in the league to commit coaching suicide that season. Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom and Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer had already stepped down.

Alabama hasn’t lost to either program since, and the man who accepted Croom’s resignation — Greg Byrne — is now the Crimson Tide’s athletic director.

“There might have been a little more success that Auburn might have enjoyed,” speculated Tommy Hicks, former Football Writers Association of America president. “The presence of Saban, what it has become in college football, there’s always going to be a natural comparison.

“That’s not to say Auburn hasn’t done well. It has. Like most programs, though, it’s had its ups and downs, but its biggest issue is that shadow of the No. 1 coach in the country.”

If Alabama hadn’t been in Florida’s way in 2009, the Gators might have won back-to-back titles and Tebow his second Heisman instead of finishing a distant fifth in the voting. There would have been a strong argument about whether he’s the best player in college football history.

Instead, that was the night Urban Meyer went to the hospital with chest pains, starting his path out of Gainesville. He had lost nearly 40 pounds by doing things like chasing Ambien with beer to fall asleep, and later told HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel he was depressed and mentally “broke.”

“Preparing for the 2009 game is what set him off the deep end,” said Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun. “It’s an easy scenario to say that Nick Saban at Alabama led to Urban leaving Florida. It’s probably a factor. Was it everything? No.”

There’s a much stronger correlation with LSU, where Les Miles won the 2007 national championship. But he was eclipsed by Saban, especially after the Crimson Tide won their famous rematch for the 2011 national title.

How many other conference and national titles would the Tigers have won had Saban not gotten in the way of the program he initially took to national prominence? Instead, Miles was forced out last season before Alabama notched its sixth straight win in the rivalry.

“Even conservatively, I think LSU at least wins the 2011 title,” Rabalais said. “Assuming Les beats Bama even one more time in that subsequent span, yes, I think he still has more than enough political capital to be LSU’s coach.”

Another possible consequence of the 2011 national title game was the demise of the Bowl Championship Series. After an all-SEC matchup, it was abandoned in favor of the College Football Playoff. The BCS had achieved its goal of pairing the consensus No. 1 vs. No. 2 teams, but even President Barack Obama said after seeing Alabama beat LSU 21-0 that the game was ready for the next step.

“I believe the playoff would have happened regardless,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said. “It was time to discuss whether to extend the BCS for a fifth four-year cycle, or try something different. We knew fans were hoping to see a new model and we were open to considering innovative options even before Alabama-LSU happened.”

A similar parallel can be drawn on campus.

Enrollment still would have gone up, but possibly not at the same rate. The southern end zone expansion that filled in the last upper-deck gap of Bryant-Denny Stadium probably would have happened, but not as quickly. The school had been considering a new weight room for years, but it took Saban for the 37,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility to become a reality.

As for Tuscaloosa, one can guess how the tornado recovery would have gone without Saban’s presence and having won the 2009 national championship. But there’s no doubt it sped it up.

“A lot of us were living in the past and thinking about how things used to be,” said Mike Reilly, CEO of Randall-Reilly business publishing, which is headquartered in Tuscaloosa. “He sort of smacked us in the face when he got here and said, ‘It’s time to stop talking about the way things used to be, and make them the way things should be.’ I think he got the attitude of the town back right.”

The list goes on and on, and yes in some ways it does compare to Bedford Falls sans George Bailey (Pottersville). For example, this past week there was a significant spike in the number of babies born in Tuscaloosa. What happened nine months ago? The Iron Bowl.

So one doesn’t need an appearance from Clarence the Angel to know that Alabama wouldn’t have been the same without Saban.

“It’s a totally different world,” said Ken Gaddy, director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum, who used a football analogy to express what it would have been like with nearly any other coach.

“Everyone would have thought 8-4, 9-3 was a great year.”

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10

By Christopher Walsh

SEC Country

Eighth of 10 Parts

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — When ESPN/SEC Network analyst Marcus Spears was a highly-touted recruit in 2001, he gave Miami a ton of consideration. The Hurricanes had a lot of appeal and were considered a premier destination in college football, especially for those hoping to someday play in the NFL.

“People like winners,” he said. “That’s really all it boils down to. If someone told you you could be on the executive team at Apple, or you could go be on the executive team at Whataburger, where are you gonna go?”

Spears now sees something similar to what Miami had at Alabama, not only in accolades and getting prospects to the next level, but status.

“It’s cool to go to Alabama,” Spears added. “Most high school kids, you tell them you got an offer from Alabama and it’s ‘You’re the man.’

“All that stuff matters, but it all manifests from winning games.”

Not just games, but big games, which the Crimson Tide have done better than anyone under Nick Saban, Spears’ former college coach.

Alabama often goes from playing in the marquee game on opening weekend, like its showdown with Florida State in Atlanta on Sept. 2, to a high-profile schedule and postseason. The three-time reigning SEC champions are the only team to make the College Football Playoff in each of its three years of existence.

Last season, Alabama faced 10 opponents ranked in the AP Top 25 when they played. That’s a record.

The nine ranked teams the Crimson Tide faced in 2015 are the most ever by a team that’s won the national championship.

Most games against ranked opponents by a national champion

Between them, the 19 ranked opponents over two seasons were — you guessed it — another record.

It’s exactly what ESPN announcer Rece Davis means when he says the Crimson Tide have played a “boatload” of big games during the Saban era.

“They have established a standard to which they — more times than not — play as opposed to being caught up in the magnitude in the game,” Davis said. “They’re used to the stage.”

For a little perspective, consider:

• The Crimson Tide faced a combined total of 17 ranked opponents in the six seasons they claim a national championship with Paul “Bear” Bryant.
• Alabama’s 17 wins against ranked opponents in 2015-16 matched the number by Florida State under Jimbo Fisher since 2010.

During the last decade, Alabama was 50-16 against ranked opponents, a winning percentage of .758. When facing tougher foes, the Crimson Tide were 24-9 vs. top-10 teams (.727), 13-7 against top-5 teams (.650), and 5-1 when playing the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 (.833).

Those five wins against top-ranked teams are more than any coach in history.

Saban has six overall, including his signature win with Michigan State against No. 1 Ohio State in 1998. Joe Paterno, Lou Holtz, Jimmy Johnson and Jack Mollenkopf all had four. Urban Meyer has three, along with Bryant, Dennis Erickson, Bo Schembechler and Barry Switzer.

Yet that’s not the statistic that floors most historians and broadcasters. Since the 2008 season, Alabama has played in only three regular-season games that did not have national championship implications. They were all during the 2010 season, after the Crimson Tide took their second loss (LSU, 24-21).

“It’s pretty amazing,” Gary Danielson of CBS said about that consistency. “It’s just phenomenal what he’s done.

“They were literally playing for a national championship every year since 2008.”

Overall, winning big games has probably defined coaches more than any other factor. Correspondingly, losing big games has forged reputations that could take years to overcome, if at all.

Bob Stoops had an impressive 60-30 record against ranked opponents at Oklahoma, but is primarily known for his one national championship. On the plus side he got a ring, but on the minus it’s his only one despite winning 10 Big 12 titles.

A better example is Tom Osborne at Nebraska. From 1987-93, the Cornhuskers were defeated in seven consecutive bowl games after losing a combined eight regular-season games. Finally, though, he became the first coach in 40 years to have two consecutive undefeated seasons en route to winning national titles.

Overall, Saban’s career record against ranked teams is 73-39 in 112 games. He has a ways to catch Bobby Bowden with 145 (79-65-1) over 40 years and Joe Paterno with 172 (86-85-1) over 46 seasons. Against top-10 teams, Bowden was 38-44-1 and Paterno 35-47.

Other national championship coaches

While many focused on Saban finally finishing on the losing end of a national championship game in January, with Clemson scoring with 1 second remaining to pull out the dramatic 35-31 victory, what most missed was that it was his 50th game coaching Alabama when it was ranked No. 1.

At this point, we can cue everyone to say it along with us: That’s a record.

At 44-6, Saban has won more games coaching a No. 1 team at one school than any coach in college football history. Woody Hayes and Bobby Bowden are tied for second at 40, over 28 and 34 seasons, respectively.

The Crimson Tide have been ranked No. 1 in 36.2 percent of the 138 games under Saban. Hayes’ percentage was 16.7 and Bowden’s 10.8.

Of course, that’s when Alabama was No. 1. It won the 2009, 2011 and 2012 title games when ranked second.

Going back to the 2016 team, when Alabama defeated Washington in the Peach Bowl semifinal, it had won 16 straight games against ranked opponents, which tied Southern California (2002-05) for the longest streak in college football history. Eight of those victories were against top-10 teams, and four were top-5.

Saban’s career average of 3.48 wins against ranked teams is a record.

His average of 1.71 wins against top-10 teams is as well, topping Frank Leahy’s 1.69 (although Leahy’s winning percentage of .865 against top-10 opponents likely will never be touched).

Saban is 5-1 in national championship games, and 7-1 in SEC championship games, which only keeps attracting top-end players who want to be a part of that.

“It’s good for college football,” said Spears, who played Saban’s national championship team at LSU in 2003. “I like dominating teams.”

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10

By Christopher Walsh

SEC Country

Sixth of 10 Parts

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s record-setting 2017 NFL Draft was not an aberration. It might have been a beginning.

For years, Alabama football appeared to be on the verge of matching the program record for most selections in an NFL draft — 10 in 1945, when there were 32 rounds. It finally did this spring, and it’s a mark the Crimson Tide could match or top again next year, and the year after that …

A year after Nick Saban arrived in 2007, Alabama didn’t have anyone selected in the draft for the first time since 1970. It’s subsequently had 65 players picked. No program has had more.

“Alabama has always had the name brand, recognition, the historical tradition,” Senior Bowl director Phil Savage said. “It’s always resonates with people, but I also think that it was just a stop on the circuit [for scouts]. There was not a lot of distinction between going to Alabama versus Tennessee, Auburn or Georgia. It was just one of the stops.

“Once Nick Saban got there, honestly in the Southeast it has become the stop.”

Besides the Crimson Tide’s obvious high level of talent, there are three other major contributing factors.

First, Saban’s “process” is comparable to how an NFL team runs things, with schemes that are both complex and pro friendly. Last year former safety Mark Barron went so far as to say that learning the Crimson Tide’s defense was tougher than anything he’s had to do in the NFL, and he’s not only switched teams but positions — from safety to linebacker with the Los Angeles Rams.

“It’s very difficult,” Alabama linebacker Rashaan Evans said in agreement. “It just takes time.”

Saban also has an open-door policy to the NFL and is known for being accommodating to scouts, who are often seen on the sidelines during practices. In addition to checking out prize prospects for the next draft, with Alabama having quality players at every position it gives them an immediate baseline by which to evaluate all others that they’ll see.

“When I was the scouting director of the Ravens (1996-2002), one of the first stop I made every in August was the University of Miami,” Savage said. “I knew I was going to see players at virtually every position and now I could start making comparison right away with Ed Reed at safety, Kellen Winslow at tight end, whomever. Alabama is very similar.”

Since Alabama’s 2009 national championship, at least five Crimson Tide players have been selected in every draft. The “low” year of 2011 saw four players go in the first round: Marcell Dareus, Julio Jones, James, Carpenter and Mark Ingram. The fifth player was quarterback Greg McElroy, who went in the seventh round to the New York Jets.

This year, Alabama set NFL records with seven players among the first 55 selections and nine of the initial 79.

Normally when a program has an exceptional draft there’s a dropoff in subsequent years.

Not at Alabama. The only program to be in the College Football Playoff every year has mastered the ability to reload. Overall, the Crimson Tide have had 22 first-round selections during the last nine drafts with another 15 taken in the second round.

Alabama’s first-round NFL selections under Nick Saban

Saban also had five first-round picks at other schools, giving him 27 total. He’s tied with Woody Hayes for the third most ever, trailing only Joe Paterno (33) and Bobby Bowden (32). If you counted the players he recruited, but weren’t selected in the draft until after he moved on to another job he’d already have the most in history.

Bowden’s best over a 10-year period was 18 first-round picks (1997-2006). Hayes’ was 15 (1970-79), and Paterno’s 12 (1995-2003).

Alabama has a current streak of nine consecutive drafts with at least one first-round pick. It’s tied Florida (1983-91) for the second-longest consecutive streak with at least one player selected in the first round of the common draft era (since 1967).

Miami holds the record of 14 (1995-2008), which is getting close to being within reach.

Alabama’s overall NFL selections under Nick Saban

While the Hurricanes averaged 6.0 draft selections over that 14-year period, the Crimson Tide have had 7.2 over the last nine years.

Despite being in the process of replacing half of its starters again, Alabama could match or top Miami’s top total of 11 in 2002 next year.

Consider this season’s seniors:

• OL: Bradley Bozeman
• WR: Robert Foster and Cam Sims
• DL: Da’Shawn Hand and Joshua Frazier
• LB: Shaun Dion Hamilton and Rashaan Evans
• DB: Anthony Averett, Tony Brown and Hootie Jones
• P: JK Scott

That’s 11 and while a couple need a few things to fall into place this season to be drafted, they all have the potential.

Moreover, Alabama has numerous juniors who could consider leaving after the 2017 season, including DBs Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison, DT Da’Ron Payne, WR Calvin Ridley and RBs Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris.

While it’s too early to speculate on their chances, the program has regularly had a couple of early departures, including Humphrey, tackle Cam Robinson and WR ArDarius Stewart last year.

All signs point to not just next year’s draft being Alabama heavy, but the subsequent three as well. The Crimson Tide’s roster includes 17 players rated as consensus 5-star recruits. Only four are going into their senior year — Brown, Evans, Foster and Hand.

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10