Fans were left speechless when coach Nick Saban benched his starting quarterback Jalen Hurts in the first half of the College Football National Championship Game. Hurts, who led the Tide to an impressive 12-1 season, was replaced with a true freshman quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. Although the die hard Alabama fans seemed skeptical at first, they knew the hall of fame coach had a vision to win, and would do anything in order to achieve another national championship title.

The game left people stunned as Alabama was able to steal away the victory on the final drive in overtime off a 41 yard touchdown pass from the true freshman Tagovailoa who ended the day with 166 passing yards and three touchdowns.

The confidence Saban had in his true freshman quarterback, despite him only playing sparingly all season, was uncanny. Personally, I was rooting for the underdog, Georgia, but it’s really hard to hate the tenacity of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Even when you think the opponent has them at the end of the game, Saban is able to turn the Tide to victory.

The odds were stacked against Alabama in the final minutes of the game, but they found a way to win due to their discipline and determination.

To be honest though, I wasn’t at all surprised. Nick Saban is the standard when it comes to college football coaches.

With this win, Saban tied maybe the greatest college coach of all time in terms of championships, Bear Bryant. Thus, sparking the conversation if Saban is indeed the best college football coach ever. The answer is yes. Alabama has won five national championships in nine years, which is unheard of in today’s sports world.

Every year they seem to have an endless amount of eager five-star recruits who look to build off the season prior. The key ingredient isn’t the fans, stadium, or university, it’s Nick Saban.Even with seemingly all of his assistants leaving  to go take head coaching jobs elsewhere year in and year out it’s the same results. Alabama just keeps winning.

Overall the tradition within Alabama’s football program is phenomenal, maybe the best ever. So you have to give credit where credit is do, and that credit deserves to go to Nick Saban.