USA TODAY International Edition

Alabama’s run a team effort

Tide in title game despite no national superstar

- Dan Wolken

ATLANTA – There are systems in college football that create stars, but at Alabama the stars mostly blend into a championsh­ip-winning machine. As the Crimson Tide home in on a potential fifth national title under Nick Saban, however, the team he is bringing to Mercedes-Benz Stadium will stand completely apart from the rest if it can beat Georgia on Monday night.

Unlike every other group Saban has churned through his program during a decade-long reign over college football, this one is utterly void of individual superstars. Even for Alabama standards, this team has remained largely unremarkab­le in establishi­ng a distinct area of dominance or identity of how it wants to play. In essence, if Saban can win a championsh­ip with this team, what more evidence would we need that The Process has been perfected?

“It’s a team for a reason,” Alabama strength and conditioni­ng coach Scott Cochran said. “It’s a team sport. You have the superstar guys, and I feel like all of them could be that. Any game, a different guy could be that guy.”

Obviously there’s still one more chapter to go for Alabama, and it might be the toughest one. Georgia, a team that accomplish­ed more than anyone else in the regular season and then backed it up in the Rose Bowl with a cold-blooded second-half comeback to beat Oklahoma, probably has been undersold as a threat to win this game. Part of what makes Alabama so tough to beat is its physical superiorit­y over every team it plays, but Georgia is no shrinking violet. If the game is grown men vs. grown men, it’s practicall­y a draw.

Let’s say, however, that Alabama leaves Atlanta with the trophy on Monday night and wins Saban’s sixth overall championsh­ip, tying him with Bear Bryant. If that happens, it’s worth asking: What will fans remember about this season?

If you’re having trouble coming up with something that distinguis­hes this season from all the others, you’re not alone. Even by his his own standards, this has been Saban at his faceless, personalit­y-less, Process-y best, which isn’t a knock but rather something to marvel at.

Those who dislike or are simply bored with Alabama talk all the time about how the program intentiona­lly lacks basic human characteri­stics and individual­ity, but sometimes that’s more hyperbole than reality.

Saban has had plenty of teams that were terrific across the board, but every year there have been one or two mustwatch stars who have transcende­d The Process.

This season, though? It’s the real deal. “It’s a good collective group,” former Alabama quarterbac­k and SEC Network analyst Greg McElroy said. “They play well together. There will probably be as many first-rounders on this team as some of the others, but maybe they aren’t the same level of household names. That’s a very fair thing to say.”

Think about 2009, when Saban won his first title. That was a team with Mark Ingram, who won the Heisman Trophy, and Julio Jones, who was a star from the minute he stepped on campus until he got drafted No. 6 overall by the Atlanta Falcons.

Or consider 2011 and what many consider to be the best defense of all time to go along with Trent Richardson carrying the ball 283 times. When Alabama repeated in 2012, Eddie Lacy was something of a phenomenon along with an emerging freshman named Amari Cooper, who remained one of the most dangerous individual players in college football for the next two years. And when Alabama won the title in 2015, Derrick Henry seemed like something from another planet, averaging a mind-blowing 26 carries per game while physically overwhelmi­ng SEC defenders.

Even the last few years, Alabama has made stars out of its defensive players with the likes of Jonathan Allen getting Heisman votes and scoring multiple touchdowns.

The closest thing this Alabama team has is probably defensive back Minkah Fitzpatric­k, who might be the best Saban has ever coached. But the impact of a versatile safety who plays corner when called upon isn’t something that usually pops off the screen. While scouts and connoisseu­rs of defensive football appreciate him, Fitzpatric­k has one intercepti­on this season and 55 tackles — not exactly the kind of stuff that transcends the game.

“If Jimmy Kimmel called Alabama and said, ‘Hey, we want to interview somebody before the game,’ you’d probably say it would be Minkah, Jalen (Hurts) or maybe Damien Harris,” said Paul Finebaum, whose sense for what moves the needle in the SEC has made him an ESPN star. “There’s no question about it. It’s not a vintage Alabama team.”

Yet winning a title with this team — the not a vintage Alabama team — would perhaps be the biggest in your face to the rest of college football. Oklahoma couldn’t win it with a once-in-a-generation quarterbac­k. Clemson couldn’t win it with four defensive linemen who will be picked in the first two rounds of the draft. Georgia comes into Monday with a historical­ly good backfield. And Alabama? Well, it’s just a bunch of good players but really none at any position who transcend the program’s norm.

“Some of these guys could be superstars anywhere in the country,” linebacker Rashaan Evans said. “It shows you the character of these guys. They truly care about not only just winning but at the same time playing for the next guy beside them. This is the main thing we preach here. It may not be so much how you feel, but what you need to do as far as getting the job done.”

As many moments of glory as Saban’s famous Process has produced, winning a title with this star-less team — arguably one of the “worst” he’s had at Alabama — might be the most Processed college football has ever felt.

 ??  ?? Considered one of Alabama’s best players, Minkah Fitzpatric­k had just one intercepti­on. MARK J. REBILAS/USA TODAY SPORTS
Considered one of Alabama’s best players, Minkah Fitzpatric­k had just one intercepti­on. MARK J. REBILAS/USA TODAY SPORTS
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