And specifically for the coach, Nick Saban, who last night surpasses Bear Bryant by winning his record seventh national championship as a head coach.

And after the wind, Saban was asked about passing the Bear.

Not really.

I'm just happy that we won tonight, and I really haven't thought about that because you're always looking forward.

And I just love this team so much what they've been able to do.

I can't even put it into words.

Come on, man.

Of course he is.

E mean, how could he not be?

I mean, he does it.

He does it the right way.

Um, you know, he recruits well, but more importantly, develops great players.

He's the greatest to ever do it, and he'll be the greatest for a long time.

At some point, it becomes a statement of fact rather than opinion that Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach of all time.

And just look at the years on that screen.

I mean, he's been doing this for 14 years at Alabama and what he has accomplished in Bear Bryant, albeit an entirely different era, basically put up almost exactly the same accomplishments and a quarter of a century.

So Saban's place has just been remarkable.

And let's bring in to people who understand the perspective on this as well as anyone.

The great risk.

Davis, who is the host of all of our college football coverage.

Reese.

Thank you for getting up.

And, of course, Paul Finebaum and Paul.

I want to start with you because you covered Bear Bryant at the beginning of your career and the end of his.

So how would you put into perspective this accomplishment for Saban last night, relative to the legend that he will always be compared to, it removes any doubt.

Greeny.

Uh, Paul Bryant was was one of the most legendary figures in all of sports history, but he did it over 21 6 titles over a 25 year period.

He also wanted in a subjective world where you dependent on wire service poles.

And and there was one year when Alabama won a national championship in 1973.

One of the polls gave Alabama the national championship.

After the regular season, they play Notre Dame in a one versus two matchup in Alabama lost, but he still claimed one.

So it's so different savings, winning it in in the playoff era, where one mistaking in the semifinals and you're gone, as he found out in 2014.

So I think it's an interesting debate, but but I I spoke to Paul Bryants grandson Mark Taison not long ago.

His son is the number three quarterback on the Alabama team.

Paul Taison.

I asked him.

I said, Your grandfather is considered the greatest of all time, He said.

Nick Saban is the greatest football coach of all time, and that's coming from the grandson of the man who used to be the greatest coach of all time.

And so, Reese, how has he done it?

You look at it.

You say this is an era where it should be Mawr difficult to do it, not less because of the playoff element, because television has meant that so many programs, as opposed to once upon a time, get the opportunity to get exposure and all the rest that it should be harder to dominate the sport.

Now.

How has he done it?

He's done it greeny because it's always about the players, and I realized how cliche that sounds.

But if you look at the way the guys reacted to him during this pandemic, how they played for him how they stuck together is certainly not just this team, but it's something that's been overlooked about him because of his intense nature on the sidelines in past years.

When you would see eruptions at an assistant coach or a rear end chewing oven a.

J.

McCarron back in the day or whatever it might be, it gets lost the relationship that he develops with those players.

When I was walking out of the tunnel last night after the trophy ceremony, Jalen Hurts was in the stands, and, uh, you know, he came back to see that team even though he finished his career at Oklahoma.

So I think it's because of the relationships he develops, the consistency with which he operates, and the fact that they always feel like, uh, that he has their best interests at heart, and because of that, he's able to recruit the best players and the thing that gets overlooked.

He doesn't just roll out great players.

He and his staff developed them and they get better.

And that was what was special about this team, particularly even the Stars.

Guys like Najee Harris and you guys have talked about Mac Jones and certainly Devante Smith recent wanna ask you a question about the season in general now?

You, of course, traveled the country as you do every year, doing college game day.

But it was entirely different than it would normally be.

You don't have the throngs of thousands of people around, and it was just a season unlike any other, and I wonder if you could put into perspective.

I mean, I was sitting here every single morning over the summer wondering if we would get any games, the fact that we got all the way to the finish line and that we had this legitimate playoff and everything else.

How would you put into words what this season?

Waas.

I think it was great for people to have.

It was not the perfect season by any stretch of the imagination, and there was a lot of angst with players waking up virtually every morning.

Wondering is today the day that I'm not going to pass the test, and perhaps some of them had far more serious issues in their lives that they had to deal with.

But to be ableto have this respite and to be able tohave something, uh, that is so important to so many people in the DNA in the fabric of what of what's important to them toe have it exist tohave it exists and full for the most part.

And to be able to have a playoff with big brand name teams and have a generational type team, a team that is in the argument in the discussion, certainly for the greatest team of all time, at least in terms of accomplishment, I think, is something that's memorable despite all of the hurdles that had to be faced, you know, and and reissue saying that just made me realize I should ask you that question.

Paul, about the greatest of all time.

I opened the show asking that question of Joey Galloway, you around this group and sort of live in it so much.

Was this the best of Saban's championship teams?

Easily Just the offense alone, Uh, answer is the prize.

I mean, he's had better defense.

Is that that goes without saying he's had Some of the greatest defense is in college football history, but this offense is unparalleled.

And just you know what we saw in the first half last night with Devante Smith.

But to follow up with with what reset a minute ago?

Greeny.

I think what's going to make this more special for Nick Saban and for college football is the struggle to get here countless times.

As you said, we talked about whether we never get to the first game, let alone the last game.

And even a lot of people who thought we get to the first game never dreamed We get to Monday night.

So this is one of the most remarkable stories I have ever seen in the history of college football.

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