Toppling the Giant: How to Beat Nick Saban

Stephen Garcia, the former South Carolina quarterback, remembers a lot about October 9, 2010.

Alabama, the reigning national champions, and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram were coming to South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium. Even though the Gamecocks had been in the Southeastern Conference for years, they were still looking for respect and had never defeated an opponent ranked No. 1.

So Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier tried something different and did everything he could to take the pressure off his quarterback. Garcia described practices that week as being relaxed, almost “carefree.” The Gamecocks had nothing to lose, while the exact opposite was true for the Crimson Tide.

“This is how football should be played, instead of being so uptight about everything,” Garcia remembers feeling before kickoff. “Just being free, knowing the game plan and executing it and having fun.

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“I wasn’t nervous at all.”

It might have been the best game Garcia ever played. ("Maybe," he said. "I kind of let everyone else be the judge of that. I played pretty well.") Coupled with his defense also rising to the occasion against the likes of Ingram, South Carolina started the trend of fans rushing the field with a home win against the top-ranked Crimson Tide. Auburn did it much better in 2013, and Ole Miss followed two years ago with pop star Katy Perry leading the charge.

That was the first of two straight wins for Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze against Alabama head coach Nick Saban, which put him with some elite company. Since Saban first became a Southeastern Conference head coach at LSU in 2000, only Spurrier with Florida and LSU’s Les Miles had beaten him two straight times.

Miles is the only coach to defeat him three times at Alabama (2007, 2010 and 2011), while only one other school has done so: Auburn. Yet the Crimson Tide have since tamed both Tigers, with a five-game winning steak against LSU that dates back to the national championship game at the end of the 2011 season. They've also won four of the last five Iron Bowls.

As for the last program to top Saban three straight times, one has to go all the way back to his Big Ten years at Michigan State. The team will surprise a lot of people: Purdue (1997-99).

MICHAEL CONROY/Associated Press/Associated Press

Yes, the Boilermakers. Of all the programs to enjoy at least three wins against Saban—and there aren’t many—they're the only one to have a winning record: 3-1-1. A big reason why was Purdue's quarterback, Drew Brees.

Even so, those first two Purdue wins, in 1997 and 1998, were incredibly dramatic and decided by one point, 22-21 and 25-24. The third was a rout, 52-28. Brees was 40-of-57 for 509 yards, with six total touchdowns (he also had four interceptions, but so did Michigan State quarterback Bill Burke).

“When you have a Drew Brees, you have a chance to beat anybody in a football game, and he beat a lot of other teams too,” said CBS announcer Gary Danielson, another former Purdue quarterback (1970-72). “I did a lot of his games when he was there, and he produced offense—whether it was against Ohio State or Michigan State, he produced winning games.

“I will say this, it would be tough for Purdue to beat [Saban] now.”

It’s tough for any team. Since Saban’s first full recruiting class signed on in 2008, Alabama has lost just 12 times.

School	Number
Auburn	6
Florida	4
LSU	4
Michigan	3
Penn State	3
Purdue	3
Ole Miss	3

When it comes to common threads between the losses, there aren’t many. One is that every opponent was ranked, with No. 19 South Carolina the lone victor not in the Top 15 of the Associated Press Poll. One that isn’t is location, as four games were at Bryant-Denny Stadium, four at the other team’s home stadium and four at neutral sites in the postseason.

Yet in eight instances Alabama’s opponent didn’t play the week before. The four that did were Florida in the 2008 SEC Championship Game, Texas A&M in Johnny Manziel’s signature game and the last two years against Ole Miss.

The 2014 game was during Week 6 of the regular season, last year’s in Week 3. In both cases, the Crimson Tide had a quarterback competition that extended into the regular season.

“I think our first year here [2012], when we went there and played a very physical game against them, I thought we matched blow for blow, not on the scoreboard, but blow for blow with physical play,” Freeze said during his on-campus press conference Monday. “... Our kids really drew a lot of confidence from that.

“I think [our success against Alabama] is a combination of the confidence that has been set through playing them the four years we have been here and playing them early is advantageous.”

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Timing was also important for South Carolina in 2010, following an off week after losing at Auburn. Every opponent that Alabama played the rest of the season was fresh off a bye, even Georgia State, making it seven straight opponents, until it faced Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl. The Crimson Tide simply destroyed the Spartans, 49-7. 

The SEC responded by mandating that none of its teams could face more than three opponents coming off a bye.

Turnovers are another significant factor in knocking off a Saban-led team, which is sort of cliche but nonetheless true. The only time since 2008 that Alabama’s defense picked off the opposing quarterback twice and still lost was the 2011 regular-season game against LSU, when Jarrett Lee had two interceptions while splitting time with Jordan Jefferson. The Tigers won that infamous slugfest without scoring a touchdown, 9-6 in overtime.

In the 12 losses since 2008, the primary opposing quarterbacks have recorded only five interceptions while tallying 28 touchdown throws.

Season, Team	Quarterback	A-C	Yards	TD	Int.	Rating
2008 Florida	Tim Tebow	14-22	216	3	0	191.1
2008 Utah	Brian Johnson	27-41	336	3	0	158.8
2010 S. Carolina	Stephen Garcia	17-20	201	3	1	208.9
2010 LSU	Jefferson/Lee	14-20	208	1	0	173.9
2010 Auburn	Cam Newton	13-20	216	3	0	205.2
2011 LSU	Jefferson/Lee	9-17	91	0	2	74.4
2012 Texas A&M	Johnny Manziel	24-31	253	2	0	167.3
2013 Auburn	Nick Marshall	11-16	97	2	0	160.9
2013 Oklahoma	Trevor Knight	32-44	348	4	1	164.6
2014 Ole Miss	Bo Wallace	18-31	251	3	0	158.0
2014 Ohio State	Cardale Jones	18-35	243	1	1	113.5
2015 Ole Miss	Chad Kelly	18-33	341	3	0	171.3

“That one interception, Alshon [Jeffery] dropped the ball,” Garcia said of the current Chicago Bears star, who had seven catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama in 2010. “I think it was the one drop of his entire life.”

Thus, the real key to beating a Saban team: quarterback efficiency.

Unless you can conjure up something like Auburn’s Kick-Six or a historic performance like Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott’s 230 rushing yards, toppling Saban requires someone like Brees or a quarterback who can play like him on that particular day.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

“You can talk all you want about how uptempo gives him problems or the scrambling/running quarterback gives him some problems, and occasionally that does happen,” Danielson said. “But for the most part, whether it was Trevor Knight, Cam Newton or pick the quarterback—even Stephen Garcia had his magnificent game—very efficient quarterback play gives him problems.”

Newton, Manziel and Tim Tebow all won the Heisman Trophy. Many of the others had what could be considered career games.

“Tim Tebow, when they beat them in the SEC Championship Game, I think he was 6-for-6, or 6-for-7 in the fourth quarter,” Danielson added. “I talked with Nick after that game, and he kind of tipped his hat, ‘What are you going to do? You’ve got good coverage and the quarterback puts it in a spot you can’t defend. He’s going to beat us,’ and that’s really Nick’s philosophy.”

School	Saban wins
Miss. State	13
Arkansas	11
Tennessee	10
Ole Miss	10
Auburn	8
Florida	7
LSU	7
Illinois	6

The analogy that Saban used with Danielson was of facing a great NBA player at his best. You can do everything right and play him as well as possible, but sometimes he still hits the shot.

Sometimes the quarterback and the receivers are just better that day…but it doesn’t happen very often. Even rarer is seeing it twice, which Chad Kelly will attempt Saturday afternoon after passing for 341 yards in last year's game but, like Garcia and so many other quarterbacks who have celebrated wins against the Crimson Tide, didn't have a pass intercepted. 

“You just have to keep moving the chains, play your game and play loose,” said Garcia, who now runs his own passing camps in Florida. “If you start playing scared and afraid, ‘Oh God, we’re playing against Alabama,’ you’re screwed, you’re done.”

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.